Harry Potter and the Quadwizard Tournament
by RR-Major-Ed-Pride
Summary: After three months of no solid leads Ed and Al recieve a phone call from Col. Mustang about a possilbe lead...an invitation to the once in a lifetime Quadwizard Tournament. !May contain Spoilers! oh and pardon my bad title giving skills .
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! This is going to be my third fan fictions (throws confetti) man, there are not enough time in the day. Well, I figured I may as well write this one…I'm a sucker for crossovers what can I say, and I just love FMA/HP crossovers so I'm gonna write one! Now this fic is going to take place in the 4th year, the events that take place WILL be slightly altered in some way so that the FMA characters I'll be using can be…integrated into the story in an interesting way (laughs evilly). So please, read, enjoy, review, and eat sour punch straws!

Chapter One: Unexpected Invitation 

It had been a good three months sense the Elric brothers had found a good solid lead on the Philosophers Stone but now, after getting a rather odd phone call from Central Head Quarters, they sat in a baffled state in the Central bound train. Edward Elric, the older brother and State Alchemist, sat staring out the window dazedly. Alphonse Elric, the younger brother obviously, sat across from him and was looking at his brother, if it weren't for the fact that he was a soul in a suit of armor he would have most definitely had a worried expression on his face.

"What do you think the lead is brother?" he asked, Edward gave him a dazed glance and shrugged his shoulders replying,

"I don't know Al, it could be anything…or the Colonel is just pulling our leg."

"Colonel Mustang wouldn't do that brother!" Al said shocked. Edward shrugged again and went back to staring out the window, he was curious as to what it was considering it was the first solid lead in months…so they said…

It wasn't long before the train pulled into Central Station; it was midmorning so the place wasn't crowded. The brothers got off the train and made their way to HQ, it was at least a twenty-minute walk from there. When they arrived there and made their way to Colonel Mustang's office Edward paused just outside the door,

"Hey Al…"

"Yes brother?"

"You know, I've got this strange feeling about this."

"Really?"

"Yeah…hm…"

Edward knocked on the large wooden door, someone from the inside said,

"Come in."

Edward opened the door and walked in closely followed by Alphonse; he walked up to the large desk in the back of the office. There was a man with short black hair and a smug look on his face, he was in his late twenties by the look of it. This was Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and Edwards superior officer…and to some his rival. Colonel Mustang looked up and smirked,

"Good of you to show up FullMetal."

"Well, if you say you've got a solid lead on the Philosophers Stone then of coarse I'm going to show up Mustang. Now what is it?" Edward retorted slightly.

"Don't rush things now, it's good to see you, how are things?" Mustang continued, he was greatly enjoying the frustrated look Edward was getting but figured he'd best not push it to far…he really did have a solid lead, it was not only solid but it was strange.

"Fine, now tell me what this lead is or I'm leaving." Ed hissed. Mustang smirked again only this time taking a folder out of his desk, it was rather thick. Edward glanced at it with a curious look, the Colonel then took out an envelope.

"Don't get so worked up FullMetal, I've got it right here." Mustang placed a hand on the thick folder but handed the envelope to Edward, he took it and examined it.

"This is it?"

"Read the letter."

Edward looked down at the envelope again, the address was written in curly letters, and was sealed with a wax insignia. Opening the envelope and taking out the letter that was inside Edward read,

_Dear, Colonel Roy Mustang_

_We happily invite three of your most skilled students to participate in the once in a lifetime Quadwizard Tournament. This tournament will be held on Dec. 15 at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All of the information you need is on the separate pieces of paper provided with this letter. We hope to see you soon along with your selected students._

_Yours Truly, _

_Albus Dumbledore _

_Headmaster_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Edward had to read it at least three more times before it actually sank in what he was reading, he then glanced up at Col. Mustang then back down at the letter saying,

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"As much as I'd like it to be FullMetal, it's not. In this file is everything you need to know on the subject, you are the first applicant." He replied.

"What!"

"Yes, you and your brother will be taking on this mission." The Colonel said with a slightly devious smile.

"What about the third person?" Al asked, he didn't fully like where this was going but if this was the lead he was talking about on the phone then he may as well go along with it.

"You'll meet them in England, you needn't worry Edward, this is a solid lead. It's rumored that there was a Philosophers Stone actually at the school but it was destroyed, maybe you can find information on it still." Mustang stated seeing the stunned look now on Edwards face.

"…Magic? There's no such thing…" Ed muttered

"Well, if they have a school for it then it must be real, but…that is for you to find out." Mustang said, turning his chair around to glance out the window behind his desk. Edward was still doubtful but it Philosophers Stone was really there then he figured it was better then nothing.

"When do we leave?" he finally asked.

"Three o'clock this afternoon," Mustang replied "oh and make sure you read everything in that file, don't want something bad to happen."

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"Just read the file FullMetal, you're dismissed." Mustang said turning to face Ed and Al once again; he had that smug look on his face again. The brothers turned and left the office, Edward reading the letter for the hundreth time and Alphonse carrying the large folder. When they got outside Alphonse asked,

"I wonder who the third person is going to be? And what did they mean by 'students'?"

"How should I know? Maybe they think we're apart of some school or something I dunno." Edward replied, he felt that this whole magic thing was really dumb but if it meant possibly finding a Philosophers Stone then he'd swallow it for the time being. Alphonse started to flip through the folder he was carrying when something caught his eye,

"Brother? What's this?" he held out two sheets of paper. Taking them Edward glanced down at them, raising an eye brow he said,

"Looks like…some sort of…thing…"

"Well yes but for what?" Al asked.

"I don't know Al, this is all a first for me so I don't know what we're dealing with." Edward shrugged.

"Do you think we'll need money?"

"Well, this letter says that everything we need to know has been sent to us so…I'm guessing that's what's in the folder." Ed said looking at it as if it had just insulted him.

"Oh, then I guess we'll have some reading to do on the train ride to England." Al said.

"This England, I've never heard of it have you?" Ed said trying to slightly change the subject.

"No, not that I can think of." Al replied. They made their way to the Central train station once again and bought their tickets, which they only just had enough for, and waited for the train. It wouldn't arrive for another two hours so they had to wait, Edward took this time to start reading through the folder, so did Alphonse. They had gotten through about half of it by the time the train arrived, getting up and finding their seats on the train the two brothers continued to wonder just what exactly they where getting themselves into.

-To Be Continued-

There we go, chapter one is done! Yey! I'm gonna have to dig through all my books to find my fourth Harry Potter book so's I can refresh my memory. I hope you enjoy this chapter, review please! I love reviews! And check out my other stories, all of which are in progress AND need to be up dated T.T my creativity levels and short attention span have a slight influence on how often I will be up dating because keeping up with three stories is, for me anyway, difficult and I may forget (short attention span! T.T).


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! I just wanted to let everyone know that Ed is the only one participating in the tournament, the others are there for moral support pretty much, you know like how how a bunch of students from each school puts their name in the goblet and only one name comes out...that sort of thing.Ok, so the title is a tad dorky, title making is not one of my talents I will admit. Anywhozles, just so this is clear, the Quadwizrd tournament is basically the triwizard tournament only with a fourth 'school' participating, instead of three, ok you get the idea. This is what you get when you mix boredom, multitasking, and an extreme love for FMA/HP crossovers…ok any crossover. Also I'm attempting a somewhat humorous story so bare with me on this (I can talk funny, typing funny is a different story…heh…story), I would also like to state that the third participant is not a 'Mary Jane' character (did I use that right?), though she is my own creation she in no way represents me. She comes from one of my own made-up series called 'Haymaker Syndrome', just so there are no assumptions or anything. So please continue reading and enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Leaky Cauldron **

Ed and Al got off the train at Kings Cross station, there where lots of people bustling around. Alphonse felt slightly uncomfortable because some people where looking at him questioningly,

"Brother, they're all looking at me funny." He said.

"Don't worry about it Al, we have to find this place called 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Who came up with a name like that?" Edward replied, he looked around. The station was extremely busy, compared to the nearly empty station back in Central "How exactly are we suppose to find this place? It's so crowded." he muttered.

The two brothers made their way through the crowd until they came to the exit, to say the least it gave a whole new meaning of 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire', it was, if possible, more busy outside then it was in the station! Al didn't really like it, too many people where staring at him. Edward on the other hand really didn't seem to mind, he was too busy himself trying to find the Leaky Cauldron to pay any attention to the people around him, he was also partly wondering who this third person was going to be. Mustang said that they would be waiting in England but where?

They had been walking for a good hour and a half before the brothers finally gave up, this place was impossible finding. They sat down on a street corner and looked around, people where still giving them odd looks but this had been happening so often that they decided to ignore it.

"Damn! How in the hell are we suppose to find this place?" Ed finally snapped, Al looked down at his brother and replied,

"Maybe we should ask for directions?" Al suggested.

"Are you crazy Al? I highly doubt anybody here knows where this Leaky Cauldron is, I mean from what I've read most of the population doesn't know about this." Ed grumbled it was at that moment that a man had walked by and over heard their conversation; he stopped and looked at the two boys.

"Are you two looking for the Leaky Cauldron?" he asked, they looked up at him questioningly "I'm on my way there myself, I can show you the way if you'd like?"

The brothers looked at each other then up at the man, this was completely unexpected and sure did a number on Ed's pride, and being proven wrong is not one of Ed's favorite events.

"Sure!" they both said, standing up and following the man down the street, who was this guy? He looked like everyone else on the street but he knew about the Leaky Cauldron. The man was lanky and had short black hair, he had a good natured expression on his face but he looked unhealthy in a way. Edward kept his eye on him just to make sure he wasn't dangerous. Alphonse on the other hand seemed quite content with the man, it may have something to do with the fact that the man didn't give him a strange look or ask why he was in a suit of armor.

It was only a short walk from where they where before they came to a rather old looking building, there was a sign above the doorway that said 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Ed couldn't help but smack himself on the head, it was so obvious! Walking into the Leaky Cauldron was like taking a step back in time, it was dark and lit by either candles or oil lamps. The tables where wood and seemed to be slightly rotting, but not to the point where they were useless. The people inside though where the strangest sight yet, most of them where in long robes and semi-pointed hats, Ed had to blink a few times at this, they looked almost like stereotypical witches and wizards.

The man made his way over to the bar tender and ordered himself a drink, Ed and Al just looked around. They weren't really sure what to do now that they where there, figuring it was best to sit down and gather up stray thoughts Edward sat down at one of the tables, Al doing the same.

"Right, now that we're here…what?" Ed asked mostly to himself.

"Maybe that third person is here?" Al stated.

"Possibly but we don't know what he looks like so that doesn't help much." Ed replied, he started to flip through the folder again. He was mostly just scanning but he wanted to find some information on this third person, who was it? Placing his chin in his hands Edward gazed dazedly at the paper not really reading. Al was too busy looking around fasinatedly at everyone and everything, he'd never really seen this kind of place before. What seemed like an hour had passed and nothing happened. Ed was starting to get annoyed, he didn't like staying in one place for a long time.

"Where the hell is that third person?" he snapped, Al tried to calm his brother down but failed. Someone had walked up to them without their noticing, they tapped Ed on the shoulder, turning around Edward snapped,

"What!"

"You waitin' for me?" they asked, upon seeing whom had tapped him, Edward glared at the person. They where a semi-tall, pale skinned, girl with short black hair and purple high lights. She was looking at him questioningly.

"That depends?" he replied. The girl looked around and then said,

"My name is Artimus, the Light Shadow Alchemist."

"You're a State Alchemist?" Ed gasped standing up, Artimus pointed to the chair and told him to sit down and shut up. Doing so Ed gave her a questioning glance then crossed his arms.

"Yes, I became a State Alchemist when I was ten but it didn't become official until I was twelve for some reason," she shrugged "But that's not important right now. After going over the file on this place and the school where this tournament is supposed to be I've come to one conclusion!"

"What's that?" Al asked.

"We're gonna win that prize!"

"You know what, I really don't care about that prize…whatever it may be, I'm here only because supposedly a Philosophers Stone was found at that school and I want to know more about it, like who made it and how they made it." Edward huffed, this girl seemed really flaky.

"The Philosophers Stone huh? Yeah, Mustang told me that was what you were after that," She glanced over at Alphonse and smiled "What's it like?" she asked.

"What?" he replied.

"Being a suit of armor! I mean I'm sure it has its advantages…and disadvantages." She said.

"Well…it's not too bad, though I would prefer my original body." Al said, he thought she was nice, what really got him though was the fact that she knew he was just a soul in a suit of armor "What about you, you seem to know a lot about us."

"Read your files…" she stated leaning back on her chair "Anyway, if you read everything that was in the file then you know what to expect. We'll be staying in the school itself, there are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; we will be fostered by the Gryffindor house."

"What?" both brothers asked.

Artimus grabs the folder out of Ed's hands and flipped it open, she took out four sheets of paper and handed them to Ed saying,

"The four Hogwarts houses."

They looked at the four discriptions of the houses, Ed thought it all sounded stupid. Artimus stood up and walked over to the bar tender and said,

"Those two over there are going to need room and board till November 1st ok?"

"Are they going to pay for it?" he asked.

"Naw, I will just add it to my bill ok."

"Alright then," the bartender handed her two keys "There ya go missy."

Artimus walked back over to the brothers and handed them the keys, she then made her way towards a door that was in the back of the bar.

"Hey wait a minute!" Ed snapped.

"What? I'm tired and it's 5 in the afternoon."

"I still have some questions I need to ask you."

"Are they about the school or the tournament?" she asked.

"Yes and no."

"…Everything you need to know about the school and tournament are in the folder, if you have any other questions that do not pertain to either then it can wait till tomorrow…or when ever I feel like answering them…man I'm tired…" she opened the door and disappeared down a long hallway.

"Al?" Edward said still watching the door.

"What is it brother?"

"What is her problem?" he suddenly snapped.

"Huh?"

"She acts as if she's this great know-it-all, 'everything you need to know is in the folder' she says. Al, I have a feeling this is going to be a very long mission."

"What do you mean brother?" Al asked.

"If we have to spend…however long this tournament is…with her then by the end we'd better have the Philosophers Stone in our hands." Ed grumbled. Al just sighed and looked at the key he had, the number was 437, he looked over at the key that his brother had, 436.

"What should we do now brother? Go to our rooms?"

"We've got nothing better to do…" he said dully standing up and heading in the same direction that Artimus went, he opened the door to find the long hallway. Al, walking up behind him looked down the hall, trudging forward Edward started down the hall looking for his room number. It was twenty minutes later that they had found their rooms and settled down, Edward was just about to sit down on the bed in the corner of the room when something tapped on the window.

Not really taking any notice to it Edward sat down, there was more tapping, this time more furiously and frequently. Getting annoyed by this Ed looked up at the window, there was a raven tapping its beak on the windowpane. Getting up and walking over to the window Ed rapped on the window trying to scare it away, this only aggravated the bird as it started clawing at the window and making horrible squawking noises. Also getting aggravated Ed opened the window to shoo it away, that's when it flew in and started flying around the ceiling squawking.

"Hey! Get outta here ya stupid bird!" Ed shouted, the birds only respond was dive-bombing and attacking him trying to bite him "Get away from me bird! AL!"

Al came rushing in to find the bird still trying to bite his brother,

"What's going on, where did that bird come from!" Al asked shocked.

"Stupid thing was tapping on my window!" Ed replied dodging another dive-bomb attempt.

"So you opened the window?"

"To scare it away, then it just flew in and started attacking me!"

Artimus suddenly appeared at the entrance, she had an annoyed look on her face. Storming towards the middle of the room where Ed was she snapped,

"What are you doing? Leave him alone!"

"Yeah ya stupid bird!" Ed retorted.

"Not the bird you idiot, leave my bird alone!" she snapped again, she then held out her arm and the bird flew over to her and landed on her out stretched arm. There was a letter tied to the ravens leg, Ed hadn't noticed that. As Artimus untied it she shot Ed a very poisonous glare,

"What!" he asked.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd just read the…" she was cut off.

"I did read the folder! What do you think we did on the train ride here? It said nothing about crazy birds!" Ed snapped.

"It states that wizards and witches use owls to send mail to one another." Artimus corrected.

"Well if I didn't know any better I'd say that's a pretty funny lookin' owl!" Ed hissed pointing at the raven.

"He's a bird isn't he? Owls are the most commonly used bird BECAUSE they are the easiest to train, I chose a raven BECAUSE they are smarter and more…efficient." Artimus said taking a biscuit out of her pocket and giving a piece to the raven.

"Those are birds from hell…" Ed grumbled.

"Hey! If I hadn't called him off he would have pecked you eyes out!"

"She's got a point brother…" Al nodded.

"If that thing is so smart then why did it come to my window and not yours?" Ed retorted.

"What are you talking about? This IS my window…you're in the wrong room Einstein, your room is next door," Artimus said walking over to the wardrobe in the other corner of the room opening it "See." It was full of female clothes, Ed's jaw dropped, Al just shook his head saying,

"Oh brother…"

"B…but…you…where did you go then?"

"The bathroom, I can go to the bathroom can't I? It's not breaking the law is it mister FullMetal chibi!" Artimus knew how he didn't like being called small or any synonym that indicated small stature, compliments of Colonel Mustang that is.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BEAN SPROUT MIDGET?"

"Do you mind leaving, I'd like to change and go to bed." She said pointing to the door not the slightest bit shocked or taken aback by Ed's reaction. Still fuming Ed stormed out of the room, Al close behind closing the door. Artimus sighed, the raven had flown off her arm and landed on top of the wardrobe, it fell asleep.

Changing into her pajamas and lying on the bed on her back she gazed up at the ceiling, this was going to be a long year…

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Yup that's Artimus for you, no like I said before she is in now way an alter version of myself, I will keep saying this if I have too. I actually have no clue how I came up with her, her name though I got from a Greek mythology book though I changed the spelling slightly. Her personality though I guess I got by mixing together all my favorite female characters from all my favorite shows…something like that…Well anywhozles, I have no intentions of pairing anyone up with other. Why I don't do that is beyond me I just don't do it that often…though there maybe some hinting (like Artimus putting Ed in funny/uncomfortable situations) I just enjoy torturing Ed it's so much fun…is that bad? But it won't go any further then that (shrug). I'm still a beginner and (says super-over-the-top dramatically) one is not used to both reading and writing such feelings, woe is to me I have not the means nor mind to do such a thing (drama ends). I'm more the poor physically and mentally beaten angst and side splitting humor type, love ta read'm love ta write'm. 


	3. Chapter 3

Well, I must admit that at the most for each story I'm lookin' at dishin' out one or two chapters a week…that's IF I'm lucky. I may dish out three chapters but for one story…I dunno…anyway, thank you all for your kind reviews! As I may have mentioned (my short memory span rivals that of Ed's stature Ed off screen HEY!) just for those who are first reading this story and haven't read the reviews for the sake of this story I won't be doing any pairing, I'm not really into that…not that I'm against it totally, it's just that if I WERE to write a story with a pairing it would be a mary-jane…and I know how much some people don't like that. ALSO, just so's it's all clear, Artimus is NOT a mary-jane character, heck I can give everyone a complete profile of her if ya want…me loves writin' profiles, I'll do one of her original beginnings (in Haymaker Syndrome) AND a profile for this fiction! Look at me rambling, better get started with the next chapter (though writers block is starting set in T.T and I think it's starten' to show in my recent chapters). Read, enjoy, review, and eat sour punch straws!

* * *

**Chapter Three: Departure…**

A week had past and it was time to leave, Ed and Al where in their rooms packing up what little they had taken out. Artimus was at the bar sipping ginger ale and reading over the letter she had received the week before, she was smiling. The brothers came up behind her and Ed asked,

"So…when are we leaving? This is the day we're suppose to leave for that 'magic' school."

"Don't fret FullMetal, we're leaven," she got up and grabbed a black duffel bag from under the chair she was sitting on "We're off to Kings Cross and Platform 9 ¾, that's where the train that'll be taken' us to Hogwarts. Now just so you know, this train also carries the students of the school so be on your best behavior."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Ed hissed.

"We are the guests and should act as such, we each have our reasons for doing this and if one of us messes up then we all take the fall. Besides, it's not everyday three young aspiring scientists such as ourselves get invited to a 'magic' school, this is going to be a learning experience for all of us."

Ed huffed, Al though asked,

"You said you became a State Alchemist at the age of ten…how is that possible? They said that my brother was the youngest person to be accepted as a State Alchemist, he passed the exam when he was twelve."

"That's a story for later Al, but I'd be glade to tell you both all about it," she smiled "But if we don't get movin' we'll miss our ride."

"Ok." Al nodded, Ed though wondered the same thing, how on earth could she have been accepted at ten when he was the one that set the record for being the youngest State Alchemist?

"Come on you two lets go." Slinging the bag over her shoulder Artimus made her way to the door followed by the Elric brothers.

It took them twenty minutes to walk from the Leaky Cauldron to Kings Cross, when they entered the train station Ed stopped and looked up at the different platforms.

"So I see platform nine and platform ten, if I'm not mistaken platform 9 ¾ should be right in the middle about."

"What do you think Artimus?" Al asked.

"Say FullMetal think, if you were a wizard how would you go about finding this mystery platform?" Artimus said looking at Ed, he replied to this comment by rolling his eyes and saying,

"I'm not sure, maybe it's invisible or something."

"Ok…that's a start but you really gotta' start usin' that imagination of yours." Artimus sighed, she walked over to the barrier between platform nine and ten and placed her hand on it, it was solid. She then backed up a few feet and said,

"I only asked because I wanted to see how you would respond, it wasn't quite what I expected. You both didn't see it but when we entered the station I saw some people go through the barrier." She made a running start for the barrier, Al put his hands over his eyes and Ed tried to stop her but instead of crashing into the barrier she passed right through it. Both brothers just stood there for a moment trying to take in what just happened.

"Brother?"

"That…is not something you see everyday Al." Ed said shaking his head, he too took a few steps back then ran straight at the barrier and passed through it as if there was nothing. Al came through a few seconds later, they where now standing in a crowded terminal, Artimus no where to be found.

There where students and their parents seeing them off, some of them turned when they saw Al come through the wall but went on their way a few moments later. Edward looked around and saw only a sea of students and parents,

"Where the hell did she go?"

"Wow, look at that brother!" Al suddenly said pointing. Ed looked in the direction Al was pointing, he was looking at a long scarlet train. It was billowing smoke out of its' smoke stack and a whistle blew,

"That must be the train." He said.

"We should find a seat brother." Al suggested.

"Yeah, that Artimus can find her own way around, she seems to know what she's doing so she can find her own way." Ed said making his way towards the train, Al close behind. Getting on the train and walking down the narrow passageway they looked for a preferably empty cabin, upon finding one, Ed sat down while Al put their suitcase on the shelf above them.

The cabin was nothing like they had ever ridden in, it didn't have hard uncomfortable seats like the ones they were used to, and it had soft squishy seats like the first class cars. Edward put his feet up on the seat and lied back with his arms behind his head, Al sat down in the seat in front of him and gazed out the window at all the parents seeing their children off. That's when the door slid open and Artimus walked in, Al turned while Ed didn't pay any notice.

"Hey! Get your feet off the seats." She hissed, Ed just looked at her and replied,

"I don't see a sign that says other wise."

She walked over and shoved his legs off the seat and sat down, crossing her arms she said,

"This trip is going to last a good few hours so we'll have to deal with one another."

"Goody…" Ed grumbled straightening himself out and scooting closer to the window and crossing his arms again. The train lerched forward and started to move, they could hear parents saying their last 'good byes' and 'have a good years'. Moments later their door slid open and three people where standing there talking to one another.

" This is the last cabin we can talk here…oh…" the person who had been talking, a girl with long brown bushy hair, stopped when she saw that it was occupied.

"Can we help you?" Al asked.

"I'm sorry, um…all the other cabins are filled, could we sit with you guys?" she asked.

"Sure!" Artimus smiled.

"No…" Ed frowned.

"Don't listen to him, he's in a bad mood," Artimus said standing up and opening the door more so that the people in the hall could come in also "My name is Artimus, the one with the attitude is Edward Elric and that's his younger brother Alphonse Elric." She said pointing to the two brothers. The three looked at Al for a moment, which's when the boy with red hair and freckles said,

"Younger brother? Why's he bigger then?"

"HEY! I'M STILL GROWIN' YOU KNOW!" Ed shouted shaking his fist slightly.

"Sorry…"

"My name is Hermione Granger." The girl said trying to change the subject.

"Ron Weasley" the red haired boy said giving Ed a worried glance. The last person, a boy with messy black hair and round glasses said,

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Well it's nice to meet you all!" Artimus said, the three new comers looked at each other and shrugged. See that there where more people then seats Artimus sat on the floor, when everyone was situated they all got into what they had did over the summer. Ed and Al didn't say too much, Artimus on the contrary was the opposite,

"Man, you would not believe the people I have to put up with over the summer. I mean they aren't bad it's just a riot being in the same room. Anyway, this past summer I was givin' this…project and…"

It went on and on much like that for the next three hours, it wasn't until there was a knock on the door again this time it was an old lady pushing a cart of strange looking candy.

"Anything off the cart dears?" she asked. Hermione and company all got up and bought a bunch of candy, "What about you dears?"

"No thank you ma'am." Artimus said nodding, Ed frowned and Al just sighed. When the lady left and the door was closed again Ron asked,

"So, you guys are…first years?"

"Nope, we're here because we where invited. We're not going to be going to Hogwarts, we've got our own… 'School', I guess you could call us ambassadors." Artimus answered.

"Really? What school are you from then?" Harry asked.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded.

"No, it's ok, we're from a sort of 'military' school." Artimus laughed.

"Military? You mean they don't teach magic?" Hermione asked.

"Not the kind you're thinkin' of, besides we're from Amestris which is a country mostly run by the military so pretty much everything is…military. Anyway, we mainly focus on alchemy."

"You three must be very strong wizards if you can do alchemy," Hermione said "It's a very advanced magic."

Edward suddenly stood up and snapped,

"Alchemy is not magic! It's a science!"

"What did I say back at the Leaky Cauldron? Sit down Ed, don't get so bent outta shape just because they don't understand what alchemy really is. Much like we don't understand about magic." Artimus said giving him an irritated look. Sensing the sudden uneasiness Harry decided to change the subject.

"So why do you ware that suit of armor?" he asked Al. Ed glared at Harry and said,

"That's none of your business."

"Brother?"

"I think this question session is done," Ed said. Artimus rubbed her eyes roughly and made an irritated noise, this is going to be one heck of a year. She then took out the letter she had and started read it, once again she smiled.

"What's that?" Al asked seeing the letter in her hands.

"It's a letter…" she quickly folded it up and put it in her pocket "So how much longer is this train ride?"

"Yes! Exactly! When is interrogation train gonna end?" Ed asked. Sighing, Artimus got up off the floor and grabbed her duffel bag, she then took out a head scarf saying,

"Edward…"

"What?"

When Ed turned around to see what she wanted, Artimus stuffed the scarf in his mouth saying,

"You know, Mustang was right…you talk way to much and jump to way to many conclusions. Now if you don't mind I would highly suggest you sit down, shut up, and calm down."

"Um…well we should be at Hogwarts pretty soon," Hermione said "We should change into our uniforms, we better leave…" they all hastily made their way to the door and left. Edward pulled the scarf out of his mouth,

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"They where just tryin' to be friendly, the least you can do is act like you're interested." Artimus scolded.

"Interested! In what? Magic? I'm only here because…"

"Because you want to find the Philosophers Stone I know, listen like I said before, we each have our own reasons for being here but there is one thing, ONE THING we need to get straight."

"Oh really, what's that?" Ed hissed.

"Lighten up, don't forget that we where invited to this tournament NOT a free walk through and search of their school," Artimus put her hands on her hips and added "Do you remember reading anything about the tournament?"

"Yeah, that one representative from each of the invited schools will participate in the…tourna…ment, ah crap are you serious!" Ed said realizing what he was saying.

"Yes, now once we get there and settled at the school I'm sure things'll work out, we'll talk to the head master about you lookin' for the Philosophers Stone but that is not our first priority." She said looking out the window, she could see they where crossing a long large bridge and the school was just around the next turn.

"Then tell me, what is our first priority?" Ed asked. Al, who had been sitting quietly looked at Artimus as well, she just raised an eyebrow and said,

"That too can wait, much like my little story about myself. Now, we'd best get ready, remember we must represent our 'school' as best as we can."

"How are we going to…" Ed stopped when Artimus raised her hand, she then replied,

"What did you think I was hallin' around in this duffel bag?" she picked up her duffel bag and opened it, there where two boxes inside along with some clothes and whatnot.

"What is it?"

"Uniforms of course, I've made some changes to them so that they look more like school uniforms." Artimus said with a smile handing him a box. Inside was a slightly altered version of the military uniform.

"You want me to ware this?" he questioned.

"Yup, now from what that Hermione said we'd be arriving at Hogwarts soon so, I'll leave so you can change."

"I'm not wareing this…" he grumbled.

"It's only temporary, you it's just for the opening ceremony when we get there." Artimus said.

"…"

She shrugged and left making her way down the hall, mean while in the cabin Ed was looking at the uniform.

"What do you think brother?" Al asked.

"I think this is stupid but if it's the only way we haven't got much of a choice do we?" he replied, Al just nodded in agreement.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Chapter three completed 3:05 a.m. while watching Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney cartoon version) Yey! Be Our Guest! Anyway, yep they're leaving the Leaky Cauldron and riding on the Hogwarts Express and almost arriving at Hogwarts…what can I say…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…snort…oh sorry dozed off. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next should be up…um…ASAP, review! I love reviews!…nice ones more then not nice ones but hey… 


	4. Chapter 4

Man, I'm sorry everyone, this chapter is soooooooooooooo (ok you get the idea) late. I was working on "The Dog, The Bean, and The Well…"it's almost done T.T. Anywhozles, all these happy reviews makes me all worm and fuzzy inside huggles reviews. If there are any suggestions for what the three tasks should be tell away! Should I keep the three original tasks? ( ta see Edu-kun duke it out against a dragon would be interesting…refried beans!) Or should I come up with three new ones? OR should I have four events instead of three? Cause you know it is the Quadwizard Tournament and whatnot? Ideas? Suggestions? I'll make sure to give credit to those who's idea's I use…if I use any…I usually do (gasp! I should go back and check something! Make sure I give credit to someone has a really bad memory). But I'm rambling so I'll just get on with the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

****

**Chapter Four: Arrival**

The Hogwarts Express pulled into a dark and foggy station. All the students on board bustled out and stood around talking. Edward found it odd that nobody was carrying their things. His first thought was to ask Artimus,

"Hey, Artimus!"

"What?"

"…This uniform is itchy…" he only said this because he noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking towards them and figured they'd know more. Seconds later he deeply regretted have saying that because Artimus had landed a hard smack up-side the back of his head.

"Deal with it!" she hissed "Jerk…"

"Brother? Are you ok?" Al asked.

"Nrg…ow…"

"Hey guys!" Harry said as he and his friends walked up to the three alchemists. Artimus smiled and waved, Al waved also, Ed on the other had rushed up to them and said,

"Ah! Just the people I was hoping to talk to!" Ed said, he was rubbing the back of his head, Artimus had hit him pretty hard.

"Really?"

"Yes! I have a few questions, starting with…why is everyone leaving their things on the train? Also, how are we going to get to this Hogwarts School of yours?"

Artimus smacked her forehead and thought,

'Prodigy? More like an annoying brat that doesn't pay attention.'

"Well, all the luggage is brought up to the castle and to the owners room later…how they do it exactly we've never really figured out. As for getting to the castle, some carriages will be coming to pick us up. The first years get to cross the lake though." Harry answered. Ed just nodded and looked over his shoulder at Alphonse and said,

"You heard'm Al, we can just leave our stuff on the train and they'll bring it up to us later."

"You sure brother?"

"Yeah."

Al sighed and nodded, turning he went to put the bags back on the train. When he got back he found the tension in the air to be most tense, Al walked over to Harry and the gang and asked,

"Um…did I miss something when I was gone?"

"Those two don't get along very well do they?" Hermione asked.

"Not really…" Al sighed.

"Ed was complaining about how stiff and itchy his uniform was, Artimus seemed to take it quite offensively and kicked him in the leg giving him a charlie horse…though I must admit it's quite entertaining." Ron said.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded.

"Oh brother…" Al just shook his head.

"What the hell is your problem shrew!" Ed hissed.

"You are bean alchemist!" Artimus retorted.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BEAN SPROUT MIDGET SO SMALL HE CAN'T EVEN BE HIT BY THE SUNS LIGHT?"

Before Artimus could answer, with a rather nasty retort, a series of carriages had appeared. They seemed to be pulled by strange creatures, dark and nasty looking.

"Finally!" she said exasperatedly, she walked over to one of them and climbed in. Ed and Al followed; Ed was grumbling and fuming. Because Al was so big Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to ride in a separate carriage.

Once everybody was in a carriage they lurched forward and headed up a dark and dusty path. It wasn't a first class ride up to the school to say the least, the carriage smelled of moldy straw and the seats where less then comfortable. To add to this discomfort every time one or both of the wheels would hit a pot hole it leave your bottom sore and bruised.

"You know Al, you're lucky you can't feel how nasty this ride is." Artimus grumbled.

"Heh" Al laughed meekly, he got that a lot from his brother when ever they where on long train rides.

"I wonder what the library is like." Ed muttered.

"I heard it was really, REALLY big and had loads of books." Artimus said, she knew it was a big library but not nearly as big as the one in Central…at least she didn't think so…she just wanted to see how Ed would react to this.

"Really?"

"Sure, it IS a school isn't it? Schools normally have libraries and books. Besides, you'll have plenty of time to check it out later…as in not right when we walk in the door. Besides that's not why we're here." Artimus said looking out the window at the surrounding darkness.

"Maybe for you, but the only reason we're here is to find more information about the Philosophers Stone."

"What are you a broken record?" Artimus hissed not looking at him.

"What?"

"Never mind…"

"What is it with you? Who are you really?" Ed questioned.

"Like I said on the train, I'll tell you later." Artimus shrugged still looking out the window.

"It is later." Ed grumbled.

"Later as in MUCH later…or maybe when we get settled in and have less on our minds. I said I'd tell you didn't I?" Artimus said only this time she turned and gave him a questioning look.

"She's right brother, she did say she'd tell us later." Al said, he was only trying to break the tension.

"Fine…whatever." Ed leaned back in his seat crossing his arms and glancing out the opposite window, his sulking was violently interrupted when the wheel on his side hit a particularly deep and nasty pothole. He fell forward and hit his head off of Al's knee; Al had been sitting parallel to him and Artimus.

"Brother? Are you ok?" Al asked franticly, Artimus just cackled and had a rather satisfied look on her face.

It was about twenty minutes later that Hogwarts came into view of all the carriages. Alphonse looked up at it in wonder; he'd never seen such an old and yet wonderful building before. Edward on the other hand was impressed with how…old…the castle was but he had better things on his mind.

The carriages came to a halt and everyone climbed out, making their way up the front stairs and into a long hallway. The group had met up with Harry and the gang, they made their way towards the Great Hall not really saying anything, it wasn't until they where at the doors to the Great Hall that Hermione asked,

"What do you think so far?"

"It's…old." Ed said not really giving it much thought.

"It's amazing!" Al said he was still looking around amazed at all the paintings and suits of armor.

"Hey Al, you'd fit right in here wouldn't you?" Ed chuckled; Artimus elbowed him slightly in the ribs saying,

"Don't tease your brother that's not nice."

"What?" he said in a questioning manner, 'Man…she's abusive…more so then Winry almost.' Ed then thought remembering all the times he'd get a wrench to the forehead whenever he'd bust his automail.

"Yes, Hogwarts is very old. But you should see the Great Hall." Hermione said opening the doors. If possible Al became even more amazed, he slowly walked into the Great Hall completely ignoring the strange looks he was getting from all the other students. Ed to was quite impressed with this room, he wondered how they managed to get those candles to hang in midair like that, surely there was some sort of plausible explanation to it.

"Wow…" Al stopped in the middle of the Great Hall and looked up at the ceiling, he could see the night sky and all the stars. The ceiling too was another thing Ed wanted to know about…though he couldn't help but get lost in it.

"Well, as you all can well see we have some very special guests joining us this evening!" a slightly cackled but still strong voice said. Ed, Al, and Artimus all looked straight ahead to see a large table with some elder witches and wizards seated behind it, one of which stood out considerably. He had a long white beard and half moon spectacles, the old man continued,

"I would like to introduce to you all our guests from a very exclusive school of alchemy; Mr. Edward Elric, Mr. Alphonse Elric, and Miss. Artimus Derrick."

Everyone clapped, but Edward was giving Artimus a questioning glare, she only returned it with an innocent smirk.

"That must be Albus Dumbledore." Artimus said.

"They have traveled a long way to be here for a most momentous accession! This year Hogwarts will be hosting a once in a life time event in which four schools will be participating. It is known as the Quadwizard Tournament!" Dumbledore continued. He was met with a sudden silence…nobody had heard of this event.

"Now, the Quadwizard Tournament is not all that different from its counter part the Triwizard Tournament. In fact, the one who wins the tournament wins whatever that person wants the most. The prize can be anything…anything the winner wants no matter what it is." Dumbledore had a smile on his face but those who noticed, noticed he did not seem very pleased about this.

"It is true that the prize is indeed grand but a word of warning, the grandness of the prize is coupled with the grandness of how much more you could lose. There is a reason why this tournament is a once in a life time event and all who choose to partake in this event should keep this in mind." he glanced around at all the students "The other two schools will be arriving in one week which means I will be repeating this message upon their arrival. Now, I think this speech has gone on long enough." The old man just waved his hand somewhat absentmindedly and all the tables where filled with food.

"You guys, sit over here." Ron said sitting at one of the tables, the three walked over to that table and sat down, Ed had to drag Al though because he was too drawn into the ceiling.

"Look at all this food!"

"Easy boy don't hurt yourself." Artimus retorted after Ed's comment.

"You hardly fed us while we where at the Leaky Cauldron so I'm hungry!" Ed practically dived into anything and everything he could get his hands on.

"Hey! You're alive aren't you; it's not like you starved or anything. Pig…" Artimus turned her attention back to Harry, who said,

"So, where were you three planing to say?"

"We were told that the Gryffindor house would be where we were staying." Artimus answered.

"That's our house!" Ron said, he too was eating just like Ed…Artimus just forced a smile.

"Great…so you guys didn't know about this tournament?" she then asked.

"Nope…" they all said.

"Well, you all know now. So which one of you are going to give it a whirl?"

"It does sound interesting." Harry said piling mashed potatoes onto his plate.

"Yeah, and to win anything you want…that would be wicked." Ron agreed.

Ed looked up from his plate and said,

"I doubt they'll be able to give you WHATEVER you want if you win, there's probably a limit to what you can ask for."

"Why don't you give it a try?" Artimus hinted in a not so stealthy way.

"What for? I have my reasons for being here and it's not to play games." Ed replied reaching for a bowl.

"Yes, and if you where to partake in this tournament and win…what would you ask for?" Artimus pressed, she was amazed at how slow he was on the uptake.

"Why would it matter what I'd ask for?"

"ARG! Because, if you win you get whatever you ask for! Think about it for a moment!" Artimus snapped, when she did it made everyone within ear shot jump.

"I don't know what…wait…hmmm" Ed stopped for a moment and thought about it "How much of a guarantee is there that you'll actually get what you ask for?"

"Much more then there is of you finding what you're looking for in a mountain of books." Artimus said with a smirk.

"Brother? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Al asked.

"Maybe Al…maybe…" Ed went back to eating but only one thought was on his mind, 'If I enter this tournament and win…could I actually get the Philosophers Stone?'

The feast was coming to an end soon and most of the students where preparing to leave. Harry, Ron, and Hermione where going to show them the way to Gryffindor Tower, but it took a little more time because Al didn't want to leave just yet…the ceiling was so pretty.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

I was originally going to go more into who Artimus is in this chapter but I'm one to make rather short chapters…I dunno why I just can't write long chapters. Ok I probably could I'm just so lazy and tend to procrastinate (sigh…it's a curse but I live with it). Anywhozles! The next chapter will most definitely have more on Artimus; in fact now that I think about it…most of the chapter will probably be her telling the Elric's about herself…more or less. Oh and about her last name, it's actually the name of one of my other made-up characters. Not one I'm using in this story though, no just Artimus, I have this thing with coming up with last names…I'm not very good at it. So all of my own characters don't have last names…with the exception of Zekke Yokkomaru (kewl name huh?). Well, I'm rambling again so I'll stop…for now…please read and enjoy! 


	5. Chapter 5

Sense I was so late in updating I figured I'd put up two chapters as an apology. Such is life though; filled with school, videogames and the Risembool Rangers (which I'm a proud member of). That and a nasty bout of writers block, I'm still feelin' the effects cause I haven't been able to come up with how I'm going to continued my Stargate/FMA story. It was such a cool idea and now it might be ruined because of writers' block (stooper).

Ok then, this chapter you'll find out more about Artimus (ya know the whole State Alchemist thing at 10…it was late and I was deprived of my normal sugar intake…I'm not sure if I should keep that, probably will and completely forget about it). This is though her actual bio. /info. / history thingy…as much as I could creatively come up with. So please read, enjoy, review, and have a sour punch straw!

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Five: Dormitory Discussions**

When the group made it to the entrance of the dormitory, which was a portrait of a fat lady, Hermione said,

"Detropmi"

The painting swung open to reveal a passage way that lead to the Gryffindor common room. There was a nice fire going in the fireplace and nobody was there, most of them had gone to bed.

"Well, here we are…home sweet home." Ron said sitting down in one of the armchairs. Ed and Al just wondered around looking at some of the paintings, Artimus walked over to the fire and looked down at it.

"We have to get to bed, tomorrows the first day of class, the boys rooms are up the stairs and too the right." Hermione said, starting for the stairs.

"I'm going to stay up a little longer." Artimus said, Al had caught on right away but Ed was still a bit slow, it may have something to do with the fact he ate too much and was really tired.

"Good for you Artimus, but I'm going to bed too." Ed yawned.

"Really? And all that hype about some 'information' you wanted to find out about?" Artimus said, glancing over at him with a rather wicked smile. He kept bugging her about knowing more about her and now he was saying he was too tired…well…she would make sure he stayed awake and listened to everything she had to say.

"Huh? Oh…yeah." He muttered, Ed walked over and flopped down in an armchair. Harry, Ron, and Hermione just looked at them and shrugged, they then made their way up to there rooms and off to bed.

"Ok…now I guess I can tell you both more about me." Artimus said sitting down in an armchair. Al sat down on the floor; he was too big for them too.

"Alright then…let's hear it then." Ed grumbled, he was half-asleep when he said this so Artimus decided to wake him up a bit. She got up and walked over to him, she then grabbed his right arm. What Artimus did next really woke Ed up, but she was going to make sure he stayed up. She took her fist and brought it down hard on his shoulder and gave his arm a very sharp tug.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ed shouted, but it was too late, his arm came right off. "Hey!"

"You're not getting this back until I'm done my story, and you're not to go to sleep either." She smirked and walked back to her chair, sitting down she placed his arm in the seat she was sitting in. There was enough room in the chair where she could place it so he couldn't get at it even if he tried.

"You're crazy! Give me back my arm!" Ed shouted.

"Shhh…people are trying to sleep Edward, it's not nice to make such a ruckus." Artimus said still smirking. Al was in shock, the one thing he thought was 'She's almost ask scary and demanding as our teacher.' he had never seen someone take his automail hostage before and use it to blackmail him into listening. It was a good idea mind, but it was something new and Al hoped she wouldn't put this in a report to Mustang, would that give his brother some grief.

"Alright fine!" Ed hissed.

"Good," Artimus leaned back in her chair and started to tell her story…

--

I remember living in a small town in the north, the name of the town I'm not really sure of considering I was really young and hand had the chance to learn it yet. My mother worked in a small flower shop and my father…well…I was never really sure what he did. They where really kind people and always made everyone around them happy.

But they where killed, it had all happened when I was out playing with some friends, strange people had come through our town and completely destroyed it, killing anyone they could catch. After that had happened I ran away, I didn't want to stay in the place that my parents had died in. I lived on the street till I was about eight until some military men came by, this was I believe in some town to the east…I'm not really sure what it was called but everyone was really angry with one another. Anyway, these military men came and found me hiding in an alleyway. Took me to their superior officers who then took me to Central.

Funny though, how on some random day the military picks up some homeless kid and starts treating them like royalty. They gave me new clothes and toys and books, I was happy again. But then, they started giving me books on alchemy, they said I needed to start learning a good trade. At the time I didn't understand it, but I soon started to get really into it, by the time I was nine I was able to transmute anything. But I excelled mainly at making things explode or fall apart. I can still create things but it's a tad harder for me. I was so good that even though I was destroying something, it was done in a very clean way.

The Fuhrer noticed this and asked me to take this test, now lots of people where against it, they said I was much too young. The Fuhrer finally said that I would take the test and if I passed I wouldn't get my reward until I was old enough. At the time I thought it sounded like fun and I tried my best to pass the test. Studying everyday, practicing my alchemy…everything. The day came and I took the writing part of the test…it was really easy. The practical part was easy too but it was the interview they had, I didn't understand the questions and didn't do very good.

It was a week later that I found out I did pass the test anyway but something about it didn't seem right, I was now somewhat regretting that I took it. At nine I got another letter saying that I would be referred to as the Haymaker Alchemist, I found that odd. That's when I met Col. Mustang, of course he wasn't a colonel back then, he was really nice. Told me all about the little trip he took recently, to some small town, he said he had gotten a letter asking about someone. I just liked his stories I didn't really take them to heart until a certain day that left a mark in all history books. The first child State Alchemist…yep…I remember that day very well, it was the day that everything that didn't make much sense started too. Then again, I still can't figure out why they where trying to make me a State Alchemist so young…but anyway.

It was then that I decided to try and get better then you, I'm sure you're wondering why I felt so competitive towards you. It's simple really; we are both young State Alchemists…in a way rivals. I have yet to see if I out do you in terms of alchemy and hand to hand combat but I sure as hell out do you in terms of wits. But that's straying from the point of this story.

Anyway, ever sense I got my full license at twelve I've spent most of my time training with other State Alchemists. One of which I believe you both know, Alex Louis Armstrong the Strong Arm Alchemist. He trained me in hand to hand combat, told me all about his illustrious family background. Oh and I remember spending a lot of time training with a lady officer, I think her name was…Riza…yeah! Riza Hawkeye was her name, she was kind of scary but I learned a lot from her.

On my fourteenth birthday I remember being ordered to travel with Col. Mustang and learn the ropes as they put it. Finally I end up having to work with you boys for my first assignment. Funny huh? How by your being the 'first' recorded child State Alchemist you where really just paving the way for me to finally get my license even though I had passed the test before you.

--

When Artimus finished her story the Elric brothers where just staring at her, she frowned slightly and said,

"What?"

"W…wait a minute…" Edward was trying to process everything "Ok, you mentioned that after you ran away from your home town, you where staying in an Eastern town where the military and the locals where on less then friendly terms right?"

"Yes…why?"

"Sounds like…Ishbal." Ed said leaning back.

"You know that may have been the name, I truly don't remember it having a name but the towns people sure didn't like the military people." Artimus said with a slight smile.

"But…you where what? Six…eight? And you're sixteen now?" Ed said.

"Yeah? Is that a problem?" Artimus shrugged.

"…" Ed scratched his head in confusion "But the last time I checked the last time anyone was seen living there was…you'd have to be at least in your early twenties if your story pans out right."

"Excuse me!" Artimus didn't like people thinking she was older then she really was "This coming from a pint sized alchemist that's too vertically challenged that he's crushed by a grain of sand!"

Ed's eye twitched slightly, if it weren't for the fact that he was really tired and was missing an arm he would have retaliated. Alphonse on the other hand suddenly asked,

"So Artimus, do you have any idea why they would try and make you a State Alchemist?"

"Not really, I guess it was the Fuhrer who ordered it after hearing that some soldier had brought me in." Artimus shrugged. Al just nodded, he looked over at his brother who was deep in thought…or just fell asleep with his eyes open, either one was a possibility.

"Well, I told you my past history so I guess that means I should return this," Artimus picked up Ed's right arm and handed it to him "We should get to bed…and no you don't have to ware the uniform everyday, just on formal occasions or whatever happens to call for such formality."

Edward grabbed his arm and was about to put it back on when a thought crossed his mind 'how did she know who to remove my arm?' he frowned and shook the thought from his mind, he then braced himself for the reconnecting of the nerves.

Artimus noticed that it was most unpleasant to reattach automail and said,

"I'll remember that next time." And she made her way towards the stairs and to the girls' room. Edward glared slightly then turned to Alphonse and said,

"Al…what do you think?"

"I don't know brother…her story doesn't make too much sense but in a way it sort of does answer a few questions."

"Yeah…but you've gotta wonder Al, what else is the military up to? You don't think there's a hidden agenda for why we where sent here do you?"

"It's possible brother, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Let's go to bed Al I'm tired…" Ed got up and made his way over to the stairs Al close behind, going up the stairs and turning right Ed found two empty beds "Finally…" he grumbled as he collapsed into the nearest one, he was asleep before he even hit the pillow. Al sat down on the last empty bed and looked around, it would be a long night, he had just enough time to mull things over in his mind and pick apart the story he just heard. Al figured he'd try and make some sense out of what he had heard.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Ooook, not as long as I was aiming for BUT that is the FMA fanfic version of Artimus' past…more or less…her original one is sort of like that only it's just her mother that died and she lives with her dad who is a famous computer programmer. Anywhozles, please enjoy. Review…I lobve reviews…they bring warm fuzzies (the nice ones anyway…and I haven't gotten any mean ones as far as I could tell). And I said 'worm' fuzzies in my last chapter didn't I? Aw phooey… 


	6. Chapter 6

T.T Anonymous dude/person if you're still reading this…don't hate me! I torture Edu-kun a lot in my stories (in more ways then one), ya know I tried a funny-nobody gets hurt story once…it sort of died before I got to the funny parts…I can write angsty sorta stories and I'm workin' on funny ones…heck this one is supposed to be a funny one (I thought it was funny how Artimus pulled Ed's arm off). Sort of…kinda…I was goin' with what they did in the series, where it's funny one moment then serious the next…I dunno.

Anywhozles, here's chapter six…(I lost my train of thought, it happens often T.T), read, review, Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Six: A Little Fun Before the Tournament…Target Elric**

It had been four weeks sense they first arrived; Edward, Alphonse and Artimus. Not much had really happened, the other two schools had arrived three weeks ago, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the three alchemists though spent most of their time either in the Great Hall or in the Gryffindor common room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would occasionally show them some strange wizarding devise, the latest being Rons' wizards' chess set.

"How do you get the pieces to move without touching them?" Alphonse asked.

"Magic of course, you guys have been here for four weeks already and you still think there's a 'scientific' explanation for everything!" Hermione said shaking her head.

"She's got a point," Edward said, Artimus gave him a questioning glance, "We've been here four weeks and not once have we checked out the library."

Artimus smacked her forehead again; she found Edwards one track mind both amusing and annoying.

"There is a library here right? Or was our repor…mpht!" Artimus had stuffed the scarf she had been wairing around her neck in his mouth.

"You've got a big mouth don't you? And yes there's a library, I was there a day ago, I remember asking if you wanted to go but you said you had better things to do."

"Merphlg!"

"What was that?" Artimus asked with an impish smile, Ed took the scarf out and said,

"I said, no I didn't!"

"Oh yes, isn't that right Hermione? You where there when I asked." Artimus stated.

"That's true, I remember her asking. She said, 'Hey sprout, you want to go to the library?' and you said 'I've got better things to…WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PINT SIZED BEAN SPROUT?' and she said 'Ok suit yourself' and left." Hermione stated, Artimus had a dumbstruck look on her face.

"Whoa, you remembered the whole conversation?"

"It was kind of hard not to…" she shrugged. Edward had a blank look on his face, it wasn't from not getting what was just said, no he got that, it was more from sudden realization and instant self-loathing. He walked over to a desk in the corner and sat down in the chair.

"Brother?" Al looked at him. Edwards only reply was letting his head drop and hit the desk with a loud BANG! Al jumped up and rushed over to him to see if he was ok, Ed was fine he just felt really stupid.

"If you want to go now, nothing's stopping you." Artimus said shaking her head; she was now seconded guessing weather she wanted him as a rival or just an easy target to pick on.

"I don't know where it is…" he grumbled.

"Why don't you ask someone…"

"…"

"Boys…" Artimus said annoidly "Can't even ask for directions…"

"We'll show you where it is Ed, it's not too far from here." Harry said coming to his rescue, a little late.

"Yeah, you can come too Al if you want." Ron added.

"Great!" Edward jumped up and headed for the entrance.

"Hold on brother! Your head!" Al rushed after him. Harry and Ron left with them leaving the girls alone.

"I'm goin' out to the grounds…" Artimus said, and she left.

The boys made their way down the long hallway until they came to the library, walking in they found it was completely empty other then the librarian. She gave them suspicious looks then went about her book keeping.

"Here we are Ed, what do you think?" Harry said.

"Yeah, there's loads of books here…um…was there a particular book you where looking for?" Ron asked.

"Nothing on magic if that's what you mean," Edward said looking around at all of the shelves, it was impressive but it looked like all of these books were on magic and that was the last thing he was looking for "I'm looking for information on something."

"What?" Harry asked. Alphonse looked at his brother who returned the look with a shrug, may as well.

"The Philosophers Stone…" he said.

"What!" both Harry and Ron said in unison.

"The Philosophers Stone, we've been looking for it." Al said.

"Why?" Ron asked, he shot Harry a worried look who returned it with one of his own.

"Brother?" Al wasn't really sure it was a good idea just to tell these guys all this, even though they where really nice.

"We have our reasons that's all…" Ed said, he had a casual look on his face.

"Oh…well…if you're looking for that sort of information then you may want to talk to…Dumbledore." Harry said, Ron elbowed him in the ribs and whispered,

"Harry, do you think it's a good idea to tell them that?"

"Why not?" Harry whispered back

"Don't forget they're from a different school, in a different region, they could be working for you-know-who."

"Don't be an idiot Ron, he already tried using it and failed what makes you think he'd try it again. Besides, only one was made and it disappeared."

"Um…guys?" Edward had snuck up next to them and had heard the whole thing.

"Bloody hell Ed…don't do that!" Ron gasped.

"Sorry…anyway, what's this about one was made? You mean there really was a Philosophers Stone here?" Edward said "And this headmaster guy of yours…he knows about it?"

"Heh…"

"What about this 'you-know-who' business, I've been hearing a lot about this guy lately."

"Voldemort…he's a very powerful dark wizard that…" Harry was interrupted

"Voldemort! What the hell kind of name is that!" Ed said, Al shook his head embarrassed.

"An evil one, besides, he was the dark wizard that killed Harry's parents and then tried to kill Harry!" Ron continued, Harry elbowed him this time.

"I'm the one telling the story Ron."

"Sorry…"

"But yeah, I'm pretty well known for that little incident." Harry said.

"Really…that's too bad, I'm sorry…anyway this Voldemort guy, you said he was after the Stone too…"

"Brother!" Al scolded.

"What!"

--

Mean while out on the grounds Artimus wondered around looking at the scenery, it was about mid-afternoon and most of the students where in class. One of these classes she happened to run into,

"Alrigh' every one, gather round." A giant of a man said, Artimus walked over to see what was going on. The giant man was standing next to a medium sized box and a large group of students seemed to be keeping their distance from the box. She didn't really know why until she got a closer look, the box seemed to sake slightly as if something inside was trying to get out, also a faint hissing could be heard from inside.

"Cool…what's in the box?" Artimus asked trying to get closer.

"Well yer new, what's yer name?" the giant man asked.

"Artimus, I'm here for the Quadwizard Tournament." She smiled.

"Rubius Hagrid, Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, also professor of Care of Magical Creatures." He had a rather proud look on his face when he said the last one.

"Nice to meet you, sorry, I'm interrupting your class…" Artimus took a step back and watched the rest of the class, she found out that there was a baby dragon in the box, an Irish Pygmy. She chuckled slightly because it reminded her of Ed, small and short tempered.

When the class was over a thought crossed her mind, she thought it would be nice if she introduced Edward and Alphonse to this Hagrid. He did seem like a nice guy, but she wanted to see the look on Ed's face when he sees this guy. Besides she wanted to get in a few pranks on him before the tournament started in two weeks and two days.

"Hey Hagrid!" she shouted from where she was sitting. He turned and smiled; though you wouldn't have noticed if you weren't looking for it because his bushy beard was so thick.

"Ello' Artimus! How'd yer like my class?"

"It was very interesting!" she smiled "I had a question for you."

"Ask away."

"I want you to meet a friend of mine, you wouldn't mind would you?"

"Not at all!"

Artimus smirked, she couldn't help it, this was going to be so much fun she could barely contain it.

--

That evening at dinner all the schools where dining together, Artimus was looking around for Hagrid…he was late.

"You said this guy has something you'd think I'd really like. What is it?" Edward asked.

"Oh…you'll see…" Artimus answered, she hid the maniacal sneer on her face. Dinner was starting and Hagrid hadn't shown up, Artimus was a tad disappointed but it didn't really bother her that much.

Dinner went by about the same as usual…Ed eating a lot then getting a stomachache. He almost disserved this one because he ate more then usual. When it was over and everyone was leaving for their dormitories someone tapped Edward on the shoulder.

"What?" he turned to see who it was and his jaw dropped "HOLY S...mphg!" Artimus clasped her hand over his mouth so he wouldn't finish his negative statement.

"Yer must be Edward!" it was Hagrid.

"Oh hey Hagrid!" Harry and Ron said waving.

"Hey yer guys!" he waved back. Edward had become very pale and looked like he was about to freak out any moment.

"Edward Elric, I'd like you to meet Rubius Hagrid! This is the guy I was telling you about, the one with something I thought you'd like."

"…That's…just…not fair…"

"Well, it was nice meetin' ya but I've gotta' go." Hagrid said.

"Ok, thanks Hagrid!" Artimus smiled, she then turned to Edward who was giving her a rather annoyed look.

"Oh ha, ha, don't think I won't get you back for that…" he threatened.

"Don't forget sprout we're rivals, if you try something I'll just give it right back ten times better." She snickered.

"Grrr…"

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Whahaha! Ok I couldn't help myself that time, I wanted to have Hagrid show up at least once in my story…cause from the looks of it apart from Dumbledore and maybe McGonagall may be the only teachers with actual parts…well that's to be determined. So…the tournament starts in two weeks (no I'm not going to wait two weeks then put up the next chapter…I'm evil but not that evil), who will be chosen? (Insert tacky drama music). Hope you enjoy this chapter, nice reviews only begets more chapters! And man is it late! Woot! 


	7. Chapter 7

Oh gosh! I think it was what…oh wow…not as long as I thought it was O.o. Last time I updated this one was March 20, 2006. Dear, dear, dear, that's more then two weeks isn't it? Heheheheh sorry about that guys, it's those darn voices giving me ideas again! (That and a small, itsy, bitsy, case of writers block –happens to everyone I'm sure…I'm just a magnet for it sometimes T.T-). But anyway! Cause of the late update I'm just gonna say two weeks have passed and it's time for the whole…picking of the participants sort of thing…Booyaka! Let the games begin! (By the way, I'm gonna have four different tasks one of which is going to be the same as in the book –I gotta keep that one! (Evil grin)-

* * *

**Chapter Seven: The Tournament Begins!**

Edward and Alphonse were sitting in the Great Hall talking, it had been another two weeks and they still hadn't found anything even worth considering about the Philosophers Stone. Ed seemed really irritated,

"I bet Mustang just made up that whole deal about there being a SOLID lead here! Arg! When I get my hands on him…"

"Brother, don't be like that. Harry, Ron, and Hermione said that the stone had been here so that can only mean that it's possible to get one." Al replied.

"Yeah, but wasn't it conveniently destroyed three years ago? And why is it we can't find ANYTHING about it? I mean all we really know is that the headmaster had worked with the guy who made it, but he himself did not work on the stone…it just doesn't seem…right." Ed grumbled, Al just shook his head. His brother had a point, they had searched the whole library top to bottom at least twice…well, it seemed like twice anyway, and yet they found little to nothing about it that they didn't already know.

"Maybe we should enter this tournament…that way we can," Ed interrupted Al by saying,

"Don't be crazy Al, they can't possibly give us what we want." Al looked at his brother questioningly.

"What about Ar…" Ed interrupted Al again,

"Al…I still don't get her…the story she told us didn't seem to fit together."

"How so brother?"

"If she was in Ishbal during the civil war at the age that she said…who old do you think that makes her?" Ed asked. Al thought about it for a moment then replied,

"Maybe one or two years older then us? I'm not really sure where you are going with this brother…"

"And why is it the Military took such interest in teaching her alchemy at such a young age? I think this Artimus is hiding something…"

"Ed…that's crazy talk, the Colonel hand picked her for this mission, she can't be all bad." Al questioned.

"Exactly! Why do you think he picked her for the mission Al? Lets just say I've got a bad feeling about this place…and our company." Ed replied. Al, once again, couldn't help but agree with that one point. Why did the Colonel pick her for the job? Why not someone more experienced or something?

"Do you not trust Harry, Ron, and Hermione anymore brother?" Al then asked changing the subject.

"I say we just stay weary of them ok? I think they're hiding something too…" Ed shrugged.

"I see…and the same with…"

"Yes…especially her."

--

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room, they were talking casually,

"You know…I find it sort of odd, why haven't we heard of this alchemy school that those three came from?" Ron brought up.

"We haven't heard of a lot of magic schools Ron, why is it this one is any different?" Hermione replied, Harry nodded in agreement.

"It's like you said Hermione, alchemy is suppose to be really advanced magic and yet Ed said it was a science. That and why haven't we seen them perform any alchemy?" Ron pressed.

"We all have our different points of view Ron, as for why they've never used alchemy in our presents does not mean they can't." Hermione said, she took out some parchment to start working on a Potions paper on the history of polyjuice.

"Yeah…well…" Ron couldn't come up with something to say to that.

"Come on Ron they aren't that bad," Harry replied "Ed, Al, and Artimus are just here to participate in the tournament."

"Have either of you noticed that whenever Ed walks his feet make two different noises? Yeah, like one leg is heavier then the other or something!" Ron suddenly said.

"Give it a break Ron." Harry said waving him off, but Ron wouldn't give up,

"You guys I'm telling you, they all seem nice and friendly but how much about them do we really know? Like why is Al always in that suit of armor? Or why does Ed always ware those gloves? What about Artimus, she's the strangest of the lot, kinda creepy if you really think about it."

"They have a right to privacy Ron, we can't just walk up to them and ask them to tell us their personal history and their deepest, darkest secrets." Hermione snapped irritatedly. Ron sat back in his chair crossing his arms and pouting,

"There is something fishy with those three…and I aim to find out what it is." He muttered under his breath.

--

Artimus was sitting by the lake looking out over the water, she then looked down at a letter in her hands, and it read,

_Artimus_

_I recently received your latest report, and it sounds like you and the Elrics are behaving yourselves. I take it they still haven't found any leads on the stone yet, not surprising…no matter, don't forget why I sent you on this mission. Make sure they find what they are looking for, you have a knack at finding things that most people can't. _

_One more thing…if either of the Elrics are chosen for this tournament make sure they win, especially Ed, he's enough paper work as it is._

_Col. Roy Mustang_

_P.s. Try not to over do it…_

She folded the letter up again, placing it in her pocket with her silver pocket watch. She then leaned back on her hands and looked up at the sky boardly,

"What's so special about a pint-sized alchemist with an attitude?" Artimus grumbled "I can do alchemy just as well as he can and yet I had to wait for HIM to be accepted before I could be recognized…annoying sprout."

Artimus stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off her pants, she then made her way back towards the castle. Already in a rather irked mood she was deeply hoping not to run into anybody, she'd take their head off if they so much as looked at her funny. She had a habit of having a short temper and very low tolerance for the stupid and the pointless.

--

That evening everyone from every school all gathered in the Great Hall. In the front of the hall was a box with a single hole in the front. As everyone found their seats, Dumbledore rose from his and walked over to the box, he then held up his hands to signal that he wanted silence. Everyone fell quiet, Dumbledore then said,

"Tonight is the night that the participants of this tournament will be decided! Now, I am sure you are all wondering exactly how are the participant's chosen, it is simple. Over the past few weeks your respective house leaders have been evaluating you to determine who they think would be the most likely candidates." Dumbledore paused as everyone took in what he'd just said, he then continued "Three of you have been specifically chosen to be tested, those three people will come forward and stick your hand inside the box. I will not sugar coat the experience you will receive when you are tested, it all depends on the person."

Everyone started to mutter now, they all wanted to know who would be the lucky three to go up there. Professor McGonagall walked up to Dumbledore and handed him a roll of parchment, he unrolled it and read over the list to himself, he then looked up at the crowd and said,

"I will now read off the three candidates from Beauxbatons," he read off the three names and the three girls came forward "Next Durmstrang," Dumbledore read off those names as well, three rather burley guys walked forward "The Hogwarts candidates are, Ceddric Diggory, Cho Chang, and Harry Potter."

Harrys' jaw dropped, someone thought he could participate in this tournament? He shakily stood up and walked to the front of the hall,

"Hey! What about the other houses!" someone shouted, Dumbledore held up his hand and said,

"Though it is true that the house leaders did pick out three candidates from each house, that list was too long so it was evaluated further and three top candidates where chosen. No w if you do not mind, we still have one more school, seeing as only three students from that school have arrived, will Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric and Artimus Derrick please come forwards."

Ed, Al, and Artimus stood up and made their way to the front of the Great Hall, Ed leaned over to Artimus and asked,

"You never told us about that last name of yours, what's the deal?"

"I made it up…I don't know what my real last name is and I have no intention of figuring it out at the moment, nor do I wish to explain my motives at this precise moment either." She replied.

"What are you hiding?" he muttered.

"Nothing that concerns you just if you where wondering."

"Now that the candidates have been chosen the testing will start in but a moment!" Dumbledore announced.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

So the chapter title thing didn't really go along with the chapter…but the tournament itself should probably start in the next chapter –happy dance-. So! Who do you think is going ta get picked from the FMA crew and HP crew! I know, I know it's sorta obvious but what the hey…it's late and all day I've been takin' M.E.A.P. 's a.k.a. evil test of doom that requires you to write at least five paragraphs for at least two of three essay question thingys…it sounds easy but it's EVIL! Tomorrow is the second half of them but they shouldn't be as nasty…hopefully. It's math, science, and history or something. Anywhozles read, review, enjoy! Warm fuzzies for everybody! 


	8. Chapter 8

Dum, dee, dum, dee, dum…I forgot what I was going to say, well, anywhozles, thank you for all the reviews! And here's the next chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Eight: The Test**…

The twelve candidates stood in the front of the Great Hall, surrounding the odd looking box. Dumbledore walked up to them and said,

"The test is simple, all you have to do is stick your hand inside the box."

Ed snickered slightly and said to Al,

"These wizards sure have odd ways of testing people, this should be a breeze."

"Don't get cocky Ed, or did you forget already, this is a magic school. There's probably some sort of hex or something on the box." Artimus muttered, Ed just shrugged dismissively. Al though seemed intrigued; he looked down at Artimus and asked,

"But, what about me? How would it work on me?"

"I dunno, maybe it just makes you see things or something and they judge you on how you react to what you see." She shrugged.

The testing began and the three candidates from Durmstrang went first, it was strange. All they did was take turns sticking their left hand into the box, when they took them out though they seemed very pale. When the last member of Durmstrang stuck his hand in the box and pulled it out, his hand had a strange tattoo inked on it.

"You know that idea of yours?" Ed muttered to Artimus "I don't think so, it looks like whoever gets that strange tattoo is the winner or whatever."

"Well, that's obvious." She grumbled. Al seemed sort of edgy, he bent down and whispered to Ed,

"Brother, what would happen if I get picked? I mean, you can't very well tattoo a suit of armor."

"I don't know Al…" Ed shrugged, they continued to watch as the Beauxbatons members go, the first two had the same side effects as the first two Durmstrang candidates, and the same thing happened to the last. The girl, who was about seventeen or eighteen, looked at her hand as if she'd broken a nail, she then returned to her seat with the other two.

It was Hogwarts turn to be tested now, Cho Chang went up first, and she stuck her hand inside the box and waited for a moment. When she pulled her hand out, it was pale as if it hadn't seen the sun in ages. She took a step back with a slightly disappointed look on her face, Ceddric then went up and followed suit, nothing, this made Harrys' stomach churn slightly. He'd been watching the pattern of how the participants where being chosen and it went, the first two where a no and the last person was it.

When he stuck his hand inside the box it was like a cold breeze was washing all about his hand, it was really strange, when he pulled his hand out of the box and looked at it, sure enough, it was tattooed. Sighing, he looked over at his table, Ron and Hermione had both excited and worried looks on their faces. He returned to his seat with them and pondered what was going to happen next.

Finally it was Ed, Al, and Artimus's turns, Al went up first. He had seen the pattern and wanted to test it out. When he took his hand out of the box there was nothing, he was slightly relieved though he did want to know more about this tournament. Artimus had caught on as well, Ed had too but he really wasn't that worried about it, he made his way up to the box. He was just about to stick his hand in it when Artimus came up and said,

"What do you think you're doing? Isn't that being a bit rude? It's ladies first." She stuck her hand in the box quickly then pulled it out, pale and sun deprived.

"Why'd you do that!" Ed snapped.

"Enjoy." Artimus smirked, she knew what it was that the box did to determine the participants. Sure, the order in which the people go is a factor but so is that last persons soul, if the last person has seen some form of death that was close to the heart then they would be chosen. Why this was, she figured was because they deserved it more, but she'd seen death close to the heart as well. But that really didn't matter, she had to make sure that Ed followed through on his search here for the Philosophers Stone, and this tournament was the closest thing too it.

Ed stuck his hand, reluctantly, into the box. It was strange, a sort of stinging sensation started to build up in his hand. Sort of like when your hand falls asleep and then starts to regain feeling. When he pulled his hand out, sure enough there where marks, he had a very distinct mark on his hand. It looked like red vine like designs curling it's way from his wrist all over his left hand.

"And so…this begins…" Ed grumbled, he gave Artimus an irritated look, she returned it with a playfully sinister grin.

--

Back in the Gryffindor common room Ed, Al, Artimus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat near the fire contemplating the events in the Great Hall. Ron would occasionally glance over at the three alchemists with mild suspicion but then return to inspecting a small burn mark on his chair. Harry was examining the tattoo on his hand, it wasn't as detailed as Eds' was but it still had an intricate design. His mark was actually a series of jagged lines coming from his wrist and sort of contouring to the curves in his hand, they sort of looked like lightning bolts. Hermione finally looked up and asked,

"So…what do you think the first task is going to be?"

"Who knows…" Harry muttered, Ed looked up and replied as well,

"Whoever wins better get what they ask for or this is going to be a waste of time…"

"Why do you say that?" Ron muttered.

"Because, the only reason me and Al are here is because we heard that something very important to us is here." Ed answered, Ron huffed "What's gotten into you Ron?" Ed then asked.

"Oh nothing, other then the fact that out of all the schools invited to this tournament, yours' is the only one that sent just three of their students. Now why is that?"

Ed pondered this for a moment, that was a good question. He then glanced over at Artimus, who was sort of half-heartedly flicking pieces of parchment into the fire and said,

"Artimus, you seem to know more about the happenings, why is it only the three of us where sent and not more?"

"If you'd read the report you'd know this…" she replied boardly.

"Don't start that again, just answer the question." Ed hissed.

"What's the point in wasting 'school funding' if only three candidates where going to be chosen? I guess the 'headmaster' thought it would be more reasonable to send their top three 'students' instead of a large group."

"See, there you have it." Ed said to Ron, who frowned slightly and pressed on with the seemingly growing interrogation,

"Alright then, tell me Ed. Why is it your feet make two different sounds when you walk?"

Ed was about to retort to that question when he stopped suddenly, he'd forgotten to tell them about his auto-mail…even though he really didn't see a need to tell them. Al could see that his brother looked like he was in a spot so he tried to help,

"It happened in an 'accident' about seven years ago…"

"Al, it's better to just show them." Ed sighed, he took off his small black jacket and showed the three young wizards his right arm, he then pulled up the left pant leg to show them his leg, both where auto-mail. Hermione seemed very intrigued by this, Harry was temporarily forgot about the markings on his hand and turned to see, Ron on the other hand was just stunned. He hadn't really expected this kind of answer.

"It's called auto-mail, and yes, I did lose my arm and leg about six years ago. Al here lost his whole body, that's why you always see him in a suit of armor…his soul is attached to it." Ed said.

"Wow! That's really cool," Harry said "Well…it looks really cool, I'm not saying what happened was, well, cool."

"That's ok…" Ed shrugged.

"How is it your brothers' soul is attached to the armor?" Hermione asked.

"I used alchemy, all I had to do was sort of fuse the iron in the blood seal to the iron of the armor and bam, that's what happened."

"How did it happen?" Ron asked.

"In an accident, I said that already." Ed replied.

"What kind of accident?"

"…"

Everyone, with the exception of Artimus who was now poking at the fire with the poker, looked at Ed waiting for him to answer,

"It's personal…" he muttered "I'm going to bed Al."

"Ok brother…" Al sighed, he was half hoping Ed would tell them, Al got up and followed his brother to the boys dorm room. When the two where gone, Artimus looked over her shoulder and said,

"My, my Ron, haven't we gotten suspicious."

"I was just curious…" he grumbled.

"Just so you're forewarned for the future, discussing how he got his auto-mail and how his brother came to be the way he is, is sort of a touchy subject for Ed. I would highly suggest that you not be so forward about it."

"…"

"I'm not joking, what those two went through and then wound up like that is no joking matter. Anyway, I already know what the first task is going to be."

"What?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at her. Artimus smirked and held up a letter,

"You see, I get these letters every week give or take a few days. Each letter has some important information in it, or in some cases they're just reminders. This letter happened to have mentioned what the first task is…and it's gonna be interesting." Artimus said with her playfully sinister grin on her face.

"Well, what is it?" Harry asked.

"Simple really, it's dragons…" she smirked "Food for thought…" she got up and started for the girls dorm rooms. Before she was gone completely she then added,

"Oh and Harry, I wish you luck considering Ed's going to be doing this as well…and he's a tough competitor. You're going to need all the luck you can get." She then left.

"She tells us this now?" Ron ranted.

"Dragons…this doesn't sound good." Harry muttered looking a little pale.

"Do you think the others know?" Hermione asked.

"If you mean by 'others' Edward and Alphonse, probably not. They seemed to calm to know anything." Ron grumbled.

"We're going to have to work up a plan for tomorrow Harry, that's when the first task starts." Hermione said.

"I know…but what can I possibly do to prepare for this?"

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Ok! I remember now! I'm really, really, REALLY, sorry for the lateness of this chapter. (Starts handing out thick packets that contain lengthy excuses). But I do hope you like this chapter…I know I said (at least I think I said) I was going to start the tournament in this chapter but that didn't happen…sorry…I am 100 sure that the next chapter will have some first task action in it! Mainly because that's the title for the next chapter, so it's kind of hard to have a chapter with the title 'The First Task' and not have the first task in it so yeah…I'm a few french fries short of a happy meal it's not my fault! My shrink is still trying to tell me that the government isn't trying to invade Neptune with radioactive monkeys… 


	9. Chapter 9

Howdy! Due to some…complications…I haven't been able to update. Sorry about that (oh! The shame!), but I've had loads of time to type up more chapters…ok this story may not have as many as the others…ok I'm not really sure how many chapters I typed up and for what stories. But anywhozles, it would seem some people (ok just one that I saw) don't like the fact that I crossed FMA with HP (too lazy to type out full titles). Well, all I have ta say to that is…To each his own! I am free to write whatever I want so long as it follows the guide lines, that and I was just testing ta see what people would think of this idea…even though there are several other FMA/HP crossovers out there. Awh well!

* * *

**Chapter Nine: First Task**

The next day was the start of the first task. Both Harry and Edward looked rather pale during breakfast. Harry was gnawing on a piece of toast, not really eating it and Edward was half-heartedly stirring a bowl of oatmeal and occasionally pouring a large amount of sugar in it till it became as thick as wet cement.

Alphonse, Artimus, Hermione and Ron all sat across from them with a mixture of expressions on their faces. Ranging from somewhat amused to very worried, Al finally spoke up and said,

"I'm sure whatever they've got planed won't be that bad. I mean, brother, you've been in a lot of tough situations like this before."

"Yeah, but at least then I had a faint clue what I was getting into." Ed grumbled lifting up his spoon taking the bowl with it, he shook the spoon slightly but the bowl was stuck fast and wasn't coming off.

"Heh…this is starting to look like another one of those years huh guys?" Harry sighed finally putting down the toast he'd been 'eating'. Hermione and Ron both gave half-hearted laughs.

"I don't know…I think this is going to be fun!" Artimus chimed in. Ed frowned and set the spoon and bowl down, he gave her a 'you've got to be kidding me' look replying,

"Easy for you too say, you don't have to do anything."

"Yes…it is easy for me to say, besides, who said I didn't have to do anything? What's to stop me from finding out what the first task is hm?"

"You can do that?" Harry asked.

"I could…but I'm not going too." Artimus shrugged.

"Then why the hell did you mention it?" Ed snapped. Al tried to calm his brother down all the while Artimus snickered,

"Geez, the tension is really getting to you Edward. Why don't you just not worry about it, what comes will come and there really isn't anything you can do about it." She leaned over and took his oatmeal, the spoon still stuck in the same spot it was before.

"I guess you can say this task is like your oatmeal, your worrying about it is the sugar and you are the spoon. The more you worry about it, the more it's going to hold you down until you can't move and you lose."

"So what? You want me just not to think about it?" Ed muttered.

"More or less, besides…you're an alchemist…what greater advantage is that?" Artimus snickered, she picked up a pitcher from the center of the table and poured some of, whatever was in there, into the cement oatmeal. It was milk, the milk made the oatmeal really squishy again and she handed it back to him with a smirk.

"Great…you ruined my appetite," he hissed "I hate milk."

"Yeah, I know…but just look how it made all your worries go away!" Artimus laughed. She stood up and left leaving the others with that whole oatmeal philosophy in their heads.

"Wow…she's got a point." Harry sighed.

"Yeah." Al nodded. Ed just scoffed, he then poked at the soggy oatmeal with a new spoon.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do till this afternoon?" he grumbled. Alphonse looked over at his brother and said,

"Why don't we spar brother? It has been some time now, remember what our teacher said?"

"Hm…you're right. We haven't sparred each other in a while have we?" Ed said thoughtfully.

"What is it your teacher said?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, she told us to train the mind, we must train the body." Ed answered with a sigh. He figured this might take his mind off the impending unknown that plagued that afternoon.

"You mind if we watch?" Harry asked.

"Sure, why not..." both Elrics replied.

--

The two Elric brothers stood next to the lake while Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the grass a few feet away. The two brothers got into a fighting stance,

"You ready Al?" Ed asked.

"Always am brother." Al replied. Seeing this as his que to start, Edward charged forward. Al dodged his first attack easily and counter attacked with a quick, right-middle, focus punch. Ed lifted his right arm and swept Als' punch away, he followed this with a lightning fast round house kick.

"Wow, look at them go!" Harry said as the two brothers started fighting faster and faster.

"For a suit of armor, Al is very graceful." Hermione added. Ron nodded too, that's when Ed suddenly came flying at him. Alphonse had managed to get hold of Eds' leg and toss him over his shoulder.

"Whoa!" Ron jumped back as Ed landed next to him. Ed staggered to his feet and shook his head slightly, he then looked over at Al with a smirk.

"Not bad Al." He said running his forearm over his forehead. He then charged straight at Al again, only this time when Al swung his arm around Ed ducked under it and jump side kicked Al in the side. This made Alphonse stagger back slightly, he looked over at his brother and replied,

"Is that all you got?"

The two brothers continued to go at it for another hour. When they finally headed back up to the Gryffindor tower, Edward was felling very sore, he was most definitely out of practice and he was felling the after affects.

"Heh…I didn't realize you two were such good fighters." Ron said. Ed sank into one of the easy chairs close to the fire place and sighed,

"I really wasn't at the top of my game…outta practice I guess."

"If that was out of practice, then you two must be very good fighters." Harry contemplated. Ed just smirked and tried to get as comfortable as he could in his chair, much to his dislike Artimus came down from the girls' dorm room and spotted them.

"Ah! I see you've all kept busy!" she smiled.

"And what are you so cheery about?" Ed grumbled, he was finding the more he got to know Artimus the more he wished he hadn't.

"Still sour as usual I see, we may be rivals but that doesn't mean I can't be friendly." Artimus said shaking her head in a 'man you're hopeless' manner.

"So…what have you been doing?" Ed asked.

"Research…the first task is going to be…well…interesting." She said holding up her hands in a defensive manner "At least you'll be able to show us your alchemy skills."

"So you did find out what the first task is?" Harry said, Artimus just nodded.

"And do you plan on telling us what exactly it is?" Ed asked.

"Well, it's definitely something you've never seen before Ed. As for Harry, I'm pretty sure you've seen one before." She replied. Harry shrugged, Ron and Hermione looked at each other with equally confused expressions.

"I'll give you all a clue, sense technically I'm sworn to secrecy. It has to do with fire…lots and lots of fire."

Hermione caught on quicker then Artimus had figured, she walked over to her and whispered,

"Are you saying that the first task has something to do with dragons?"

"Heh…you catch on pretty fast. But yeah, mostly."

Ed crossed his arms and slouched down in the chair some more, that wasn't a very good clue. Hermione motioned to Harry and Ron to follow her out of the common room and out into the hall, leaving the three alchemists alone.

"Artimus…you really stink at giving clues." Ed hissed.

"No I don't. Hermione caught on right away." Artimus said in a mockingly innocent tone.

"Fire? What could they possibly come up with that has to do with a lot of fire?" Al asked himself.

"Look, I'm only aloud to give clues. That's what Dumbledore told us." Artimus said putting her hands on her hips.

"'us'? What do you mean 'us'?" Ed asked sitting up.

"Yup, one person from each school was picked to give a small clue to the participants. Sense we where staying in the same place as Harry, it was best just to do it for both sides. But anyway, it's nothing you can't handle Ed, I'm sure."

"How so?"

"You've faced chimeras right?"

"Yeah so?"

"Well then you can take on what they've got 'cooked' up for you guys." Artimus smiled, she then added "Oh, and you'll be going last Edward."

"What!"

"Yup, sense I wasn't really sure where you and Harry had wondered off too I pick the slots for the two of you. You will be going last and Harry will be going first."

"Arg…" Ed looked rather disgruntled.

"You're tense again…here." She tossed a key onto Eds' lap, he looked at it questioningly "Due to the fact that it's early, actually it's about eleven thirty, nobody should be using it right now. You've got until one in the afternoon, why not go take a bath in the prefects bathroom."

"How do you…" Ed was about to say, but Artimus just smirked and replied faster,

"We may be rivals and I may want to fight you and win…but that doesn't mean I can't do what I can to help." She then turned and left through the portrait leaving the two brothers alone.

"You know brother, she's really strange." Al sighed.

"You think! First it's one thing, now it's this…what's going to be next time?" Ed grumbled getting up.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure she means well." Al said also standing up, he'd sat down before figuring they'd be there for a while. Ed shrugged and made for the exit,

"You can do whatever you want Al, I'll be right back." He muttered.

"Where are you going?" Al asked.

"She gave me this key to go take a bath didn't she? May as well…I've really got nothing better to do." Ed shrugged.

--

It was twelve thirty now and still no sign of Edward, Al was getting kind of worried. He had met up with Artimus in the Great Hall for lunch, they both sat at the Gryffindor table. Alphonse looked around and noticed someone else was missing,

"Say, where are Harry, Ron and Hermione?" he asked.

"Not sure…what about Ed? Have you seen him?" Artimus asked, she really didn't care but she could just tell that Al was worried.

"No, I haven't seen him either. At least not sense he went down to the prefects bathroom." Al answered.

"Ha! So he did go!" Artimus suddenly said in a very triumphant voice. Al just looked at her "heh…sorry. Anyway, they better show up soon. A little food in the stomach before a big event is always good."

"Yeah about that…what is the first task?" Al asked, Artimus looked up at Al with a knowing smirk and answered.

"Why? You plan on telling Ed?"

"Um…maybe…" Al stuttered.

"I can tell you if you want, but you can't tell Ed. The participants are supposed to find out on their own and not be told directly." Artimus said.

"Ok then, I won't tell him." Al sighed.

"Dragons…"

"What?"

"Yep…he's gonna have to subdue a dragon. It's actually a very simple task, considering it's the first, but all he has to do is subdue the dragon and place his hand on the stone alter in the center of the ring." Artimus explained.

"That's it?" Al asked.

"Well, in terms of difficulty, it all depends on the dragon he picks." Artimus added, "When it's his turn to go out, he'll draw a number, that number corresponds with a specific type of dragon. One being the weakest and four being the strongest, because there are only four participants."

"Wow…this does sound interesting." Al said, he was already running through possible scenarios that he might use if he'd been picked.

"It's going to be at the Quidditch field so we'd better get going now so we can get good seats!" Artimus laughed grabbing an apple and getting up.

"Quidditch?"

"It's a sport, but that's not important right now." She smiled, Al followed her out of the Great Hall and out towards a large oval shaped playing field.

The field was completely cover with dirt and large boulders, creating a very barren landscape. There was a small cylinder shaped altar in the center of the field, on the altar where four different designs, each not complete. Alphonse noticed this right away and said,

"Those look like transmutation circles."

"Yeah, they do…hmmm." Artimus crossed her arms and frowned, she hadn't been aware of this little twist. Well, she considered it a twist sense she knew nothing about it. That's when Ron and Hermione showed up, they spotted Al and Artimus sitting in the front row and walked over to meet them.

"Hey you two!" Ron shouted making his way over.

"Oh hey Ron!" Al said turning to face them.

"So, what do you think?" Hermione asked sitting down just behind Al. Al looked out over the playing field again then back to Hermione saying,

"I think my brother will do just fine."

"Speaking of which, have you seen Ed anywhere?" Ron asked.

"He said he was going to the prefects bathroom to take a bath." Al answered, Hermione frowned and said,

"How can he do that? He needs a key, and only prefects are given them."

"I gave one to him." Artimus said not turning to acknowledge them.

"How did you get one?" Hermione demanded.

"Simple, I took the one you had left in your pocket and made a replica." Artimus answered.

"What!"

"Yup, made it out of wood too." Artimus took out her silver pocket watch and checked the time, twelve forty-five.

Hermione seemed rather flustered after that, she couldn't believe that Artimus had gone through her things. She was starting to see what Ron had been talking about, these new guys did seem rather…odd.

--

Edward was just getting up to the boys dorm rooms when Harry showed up, both boys stopped and looked at each other for a moment. Harry broke the silence by asking,

"Did you find out what it is yet?"

"No…" Ed replied.

"It's dragons…that's the first task." Harry said.

"…" Ed didn't say anything, his right hand was just clenching and unclenching a fist "heh, you don't say…" he stormed past Harry and went into the dorm room. Harry followed after him and asked,

"Hey, what is it? You don't seem very relieved."

"Relieved! Should I be!" Ed snapped. Harry couldn't help but frown back and say,

"Maybe not…"

Ed pulled his travel suitcase out from under his bed and flopped it on top of his bed. Opening it he started to rummage through it, he pulled out the uniform Artimus had made. Glaring at it for a moment he set the jacket on his pillow then took out the pants, they resembled the blue ones the military had back in Amestris. Setting those down next to the suitcase he then took out a blacklong sleeveand set it down on the uniform pants.

"Sorry I snapped at you…" he then said, Harry just held up his hands and replied,

"Oh don't worry about it, it's ok."

Edward held up his right hand, it was clenched in a tight fist, he seemed rather angry. Though it didn't show on his face, it was very clear in his eyes,

"I'm just thinking…I might just take Artimus up on her offer to fight." Ed picked up the close he'd picked out and left the dorm room. Harry just stood there in the room and sighed, he was thinking maybe Ron was right, there was definitely something about these alchemists that just didn't seem right.

It was twelve fifty-five and Ed was sprinting down the hallway towards the exit of the castle. Nearly kicking down the front doors to the castle, Ed put on an extra burst of speed as he sprinted towards the Quidditch field. A few straggler students told him where to go sense he'd forgotten to ask. When he reached the field he was gasping for breath, Harry patted him on the back and said,

"Heh, don't worry, I got here just a moment ago. You're not too late, Dumbledore just finished explaining the point of the task."

"Crap…" Ed gasped.

"All we have to do is subdue the dragon, without harming it, and place our hand on the altar in the center of the field." Harry explained. Edward stood up straight and held his arms up over his head, even though he looked flustered and out of breath, he still had a smirk on his face.

"That shouldn't be to hard."

Dumbledore soon walked up to them, he was carrying a small box with him. Ed mentally glared at the box for a moment.

"Inside this box, don't worry it is a normal box, are four numbers. In order, you will choose which dragon you will be subduing. One being the least challenging, four being the most challenging." He held up the box for the participants to reach in and choose their dragon. Harry went first, then the girl from Beauxbatons, then the boy from Durmstrang. Finally it was Eds' turn, he reached in and grabbed the last slip of paper.

He looked down at the paper, his expression didn't fool anyone. Dumbledore set the box aside and said,

"Now, read off your number."

"Two" Harry said.

"One" the girl said.

"Three" the boy said.

"…Four…" Edward said, everyone looked at him. Even though he was trying to hide it, they all could tell he was a considerable pale green color. Ed didn't mind subduing a dragon…but did it have to be the strongest of the four?

"All right then, I wish you all the best of luck." Dumbledore nodded, before he left though he walked over to Harry and talked to him for a moment, the then walked over Edward and said,

"You will be facing a Peruvian Vipertooth. These dragons are one of the smallest of all dragons, about fifteen feet in length, but be warned. These dragons are very fast and very poisonous."

"Heh, go figure. So am I." Ed replied, he was now putting up his usual cocky attitude to hide the fact that he had a very nasty knot in his stomach. When Dumbledore left, Harry walked over to him and said,

"If it makes you feel any better, the Peruvian Vipertooth isn't the most dangerous dragon in existence."

"Could've fooled me."

"It's actually the Hungarian Horntail, I remember Hagrid mentioning it at one point."

Edward leaned against a wall, he then looked over at Harry and said,

"You're up first you know…"

"Oh, right." Harry turned and left when he heard his name called, followed by loud applause.

--

It seemed like eternity sense Harry had gone out there and started everything off, the other two participants had soon gone out and fought their dragons. Edward was sitting on the ground with a pondering look on his face. He was going over possible tactics of how he could subdue his dragon, if it was fast and poisonous then he'd have to be faster.

Soon he heard the sound of Dumbledore announcing it was his turn, getting up Ed made his way towards the field. When he came out onto the field there was a thunder of applause. Edward froze instantly and it wasn't because he wasn't used to being in front of a large crowd. He was looking straight into the eyes of a fifteen-foot Peruvian Vipertooth. Its' smooth cooper colored scales and black ridges, along it's back, flashed in the sunlight. The minute the dragon spotted him, it hissed and tugged violently on its' chain, Edward involuntarily took a few steps back.

He'd backed up into a wall, the door he'd just come through had vanished! Ed quickly turned his attention back to the dragon, it was still hissing and trying desperately to free itself from the chains that were holding it down. Looking up momentarily at Dumbledore, Ed saw him hold up his hand and bring it down. This must have ment to release the dragon, and sure enough, the chains 'vanished' and the dragon shot straight at Edward with lighting agility.

Just dodging it, Ed made a mad dash away from the wall so he wouldn't get cornered. He had to think fast, if he wanted to subdue this dragon and live he'd have to do something soon. But before he had time to think the dragon had already caught up with him and cut him off, its' tail swept out and tripped Ed causing him to hit the ground.

"Damn…" Ed quickly clapped his hands and touched the ground, there was a flash of alchemic light and a large stone wall came up out of the ground. The dragon hissed and slammed into it trying to get at Ed. The wall wouldn't hold for long so this ment Ed had to think…and fast, really fast.

"That's it!" Ed got to his feet and started to get as much distance between him and the dragon, when the dragon finally got around the wall it hissed and looked around for its' target. Spotting Edward again it charged forward, Ed didn't move…he was waiting. Just as the dragon was nearly on him, he clapped his hands and touched the ground again. Only this time when the flash of alchemic light vanished, the dragon was in a large cage, Ed smirked as the dragon thrashed around in the cage, as he walked past it towards the center of the field he could hear his brother cheering,

"That was awesome brother! Way to go!"

Ed took this moment to look up at his brother and wave, he then spotted Artimus, she was smirking also, this made Ed grimace slightly. He didn't like the way she was smirking, it was if she knew that if they did fight…she'd win. No, that wouldn't happen. Ed made his way up to the altar and was about to place his hand on it when he noticed that the place where his hand was supposed to go was a transmutation circle. He paused and examined it, this proved to be a very bad move on his part.

The Peruvian Vipertooth had managed to break apart part of the cage and get free. It had charged right at Edward and swung its' tail around slamming him into the altar. The force and speed of the impact was near devastating, Ed could literally feel his ribs break as the wind was knocked out of him. He hit the ground like a rock, the dragon took this chance to try and get a bite in as well, it snapped at him. Still not able to breath very well and the pain from his broken ribs, Ed struggled away from the dragon as fast as he could.

Without thinking he clapped his hands, the dragon slithered around and snapped down on his right leg. Ed was glad that the uniform pants where made of such 'tough' material because he didn't feel anything, he then touched the ground again creating a large stone box around the dragon with three holes at the very top on all four sides. The dragon had let go of course when it saw the flash of light.

Struggling to his feet Ed quickly placed his hand on the respective circle that corresponded with the mark on his hand. He then turned to face the audience, everyone was cheering, save for Alphonse, Artimus, and Dumbledore. Ed wasn't sure why they where looking at him they way they where. It was as if something really bad had just happened…but he won…wasn't that a good thing?

A sudden sharp pain shot through him as if he'd just been struck by lighting, Ed keeled over unconscious…

To Be Continued-

* * *

WOW! This was a long chapter! W00t! Ok, so the whole first task wasn't really a funny ROFLMAO kind of thing…oh curse my natural angsty moments! ARG! Oh well, hope you liked this chapter! Oh…one more thing! No Edward wasn't walking around naked after his bath! Just wanted ta say that before someone jumped to the wrong conclusion! (Heheheheheh –evil laugh-) He just…um…ok I'm not really sure what he did…but he wasn't naked! (Mentally- crap…) Remember! Leave me reviews! Preferably nice ones! 


	10. Chapter 10

Howdy! Don't really have anything ta say at the moment! Ok, I'm sitting here in my room watching Final Fantasy VII Advent Children –happy-, it's safe ta say I know squat about FF but I do like Cloud and Vincent!

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Christmas Shopping in Hogsmeade**

Edward opened his eyes groggily, his vision slightly blurred from the light. He tried to sit up but stopped when a wave of pain shot through his ribs. Somebody then said,

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't try to move yet dear. The potion hasn't started taking effect yet."

"Huh?" Ed looked around blankly his eyesight improving now. He noticed he was lying in a bed in the hospital wing. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Al where looking down at him, "What happened?" he asked.

"Well," Harry started "Your ribs were busted, all of them can you believe that, and that Peruvian Vipertooth bit you."

"I hate to say it but it was a good thing Professor Snape had a bezoar or else you would have been done for." Ron added.

"How are you feeling brother?" Al asked. Edward sat there for a moment, looking around. He inhaled deeply; wincing slightly Ed answered,

"I've…been better." He then took one last look around and frowned, "Where's Artimus?"

"Oh, well…she left." Harry said.

"Yeah, said something about a report." Ron nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Hermione asked.

"Just find it strange that she'd just up and leave without telling anyone." Ed shrugged. They spent the rest of the time in silence; finally deciding it was time to leave Harry, Ron, and Hermione left. Al stayed behind and sat with his brother.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Al suddenly said, he pulled a roll of parchment out of his armor and handed it to Ed "Artimus told me to give this to you when you woke up."

"What is it?" Ed asked.

"I'm not sure brother."

Edward examined the parchment for a moment before unrolling it; he started reading what was on it. When he was finished his eye was twitching slightly, Al could tell that ment that whatever was on that parchment must have really irritated Ed.

"Brother?"

"Read…" Ed snapped the parchment at Al, who took it and started reading it out loud,

_Edward,_

_Hey! If you're reading this that means you didn't die from that tiny, little dragon and I won't have to come up with an excuse why the Colonel has to do so much paper work that covers your funeral expenses. Anyway speaking of the Colonel, sorry I had to leave so soon, something came up in Central and the Colonel called me back. Nothing big, just some unclear files and reports, stuff like that. I should be back by the third task, I'd be back sooner but hey, duty calls! _

_Artimus_

"What's so bad about this?" Al asked.

"Nothing's wrong, I just can't stand her that's all." Ed shrugged.

"Oh brother, she's not that bad."

"That's because she hasn't done anything to you yet!" Ed hissed. He slumped back into his pillow; he had to admit he didn't hurt as much anymore, "Say…it's the twenty-fourth right?"

"Huh? No, that's tomorrow…why?"

"We should probably get something for everyone…" Ed muttered. Alphonse looked at his brother for a moment then asked,

"Are you ok?"

"Oh yes, I'm great…never better!" Edward smiled, it was a kind of silly looking smile like he wasn't quite with it, "Yeah, I was thinking of getting something for Winry, Granny, Den, everyone at Central HQ or at least the ones we know, and something for our new friends, Harry, Ron, Hermione…" he continued. Alphonse wasn't really sure what to do; Madam Pomfrey had walked by and noticed Eds' strange behavior and Als' slightly worried shifting.

"Don't worry dear, the potion is just kicking in, it tends to make people a touch loopy. It will wear off when potion is done doing what it's supposed to." She smiled and walked away. Al sighed and got up saying,

"I'll go get you some dinner brother."

"Hey Al! I'm thirsty, I could go for a glass of milk right now." Ed said. Al froze then groaned, that was the first time he'd ever heard his brother ask for milk…it'll be the only time too. He then raised his hand in acknowledgement,

"Whatever you say brother." He had to get out of there; his brother was really getting weird.

--

The next day Edward was fully recovered and allowed to leave, well just after Madam Pomfrey gave him one last check up to make sure all the side effects of the potion had warn off. Ed and Al made their way back to Gryffindor tower; they were discussing what Ed had said, including the milk comment, about getting their friends something for Christmas.

"I can't believe you actually brought me milk!"

"You asked for it brother."

"Well, I wasn't my self…"

"You didn't have to drink it."

"I still have that horrid taste in my mouth…"

"Anyway brother, what are we going to get everyone for Christmas?" Al asked. Edward thought about it for a moment, he wasn't really sure.

"Maybe we can find something around the school, I don't really know." Ed shrugged, "Hey! Maybe we can go down to that Hogsmeade village I heard about!"

"How are we going to do that?"

"Well, while I was in the hospital wing I heard some students talking about a trip down there taking place today, we can check it out."

"Yeah!"

They finally made it to the portrait of the fat lady and said the password. When they walked in they found Harry and Ron playing a game of wizards' chess, Hermione was watching with little interest.

"Hey." Ed smirked.

"Oh hey! How are you feeling Ed?" Hermione said jumping up with a little more enthusiasm then she ment. Ed took a quick step back and said,

"I'm fine thanks," he then whispered "What are you so happy about?"

"I just want to get away from these two, they've been at this game for the past hour. Most of their time was spent either looking at the board blankly or arguing over a move."

"Oh, I see…well anyway. When is this Hogsmeade trip I heard about?" Ed asked.

"Hogsmeade trip, oh right, that's actually what we're killing time for. Everyone won't be leaving till noon so we've got about another half an hour." Harry said turning his attention away from his game for a split second then turning back to it saying, "That was a good move but it left you wide open for my knight to do this!" Harrys' knight took out Rons' rook. Al walked over and sat down watching, he seemed to like watching the little chess pieces move about the board.

Edward sat down in an easy chair next to the fireplace, he had grown rather fond of this spot, it was peaceful and seemed to calm his nerves. He looked to his right and spotted a book lying on a small table, he leaned over and picked it up. It was a first year book on beginning transfiguration. Opening up the book Ed started to read, it was a mildly interesting book, if you were interested in shattering all the laws of nature and equivalent exchange. But it was interesting to see how, supposedly, people can turn an apple into an orange.

Half an hour had passed by fairly quickly and soon they were all heading down to the Great Hall. Students were gathering to all head down to Hogsmeade village, Ed turned and looked up at Al saying,

"So, what do you plan on getting for Winry and Granny?"

"I'm not sure yet brother." Al sighed.

"Oh, you guys are going Christmas shopping too?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah." Both Elrics said.

"How much do you plan to spend? Me, I've got just enough for my family and friends." Hermione said, she then bit her lip and added, "I'm not imposing am I?"

"Naw…wait…" Ed frowned and turned to Al "Did you bring any money?"

"No I didn't brother, you always carry the money." Al muttered.

"Don't worry you guys, you can use some of my money." Harry said.

"What? No we couldn't do that." Ed said shaking his head.

"I've got plenty, trust me! It's not a problem you two." He laughed. Edward finally agreed after everyone had to try and convince him he didn't have to do anything in return. It was soon time to depart and everyone made their way out of the castle and down the path that lead to Hogsmeade village. It was a slight trek through the snow, that had some how fallen in one night. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Elric brothers' made their way over to the Three Broom Sticks pub and walked in.

"Man…how'd it snow so much in one night? Geez it's cold." Ed shivered. Al just shook his head and said,

"You should have warn your jacket brother."

"Heh…"

"Come on, they've got hot apple cider here that'll warm you up nice and quick." Ron said walking over to the bar. They all sat down at the counter and got just that, and with the first sip they were all contently warmer then they had been a moment ago.

"Heh, I could get used to this place." Ed said setting his mug down and flopping his head down next to it, "I'm ready for a nap."

"No lying on the counter!" the bar tender snapped slamming an empty beer bottle down next to Eds' head making him jump.

"Don't bust a lung buddy, geez." Ed muttered sitting up, "So, where are we heading first?"

"Lets see, there's Zonkos' Joke Shop, Honeydukes candy store, and the Shrieking Shack." Hermione listed.

"Let's go to Honeydukes first." Ron said.

"I've got no objections." Ed said, Al nodded. They all got up, paid for the drinks, and left. The wind was picking up now and was blowing cold gusts of snow in their faces turning them red. Trudging through the snow the finally made it to Honeydukes candy shop. They opened the door and walked in as a small bell jingled, it was fairly crowded but they all managed to get in.

The Elrics stood in the entrance gazing around the shop in awe; it was so bright, colorful and warm. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with all assortments of different sweets and snacks.

"Whoa…" Ed gawked.

"Careful brother, remember what we came here to do. We're shopping for Christmas presents, not food." Al reminded, Ed was only half listening. He'd walked over to a self filled with 'Fun After Effect' candy and was studying them with an evil gleam. Al didn't like that look, it was a look that said he was plotting something mischievous and probably involved sending some of these things to a certain Colonel.

Edward picked up two different packages, one that said 'Cockroach Clusters' and another that said 'Acid Pops'. He snickered slightly and turned to Al asking,

"What do you think Al? Should this be the Colonels' Christmas present?"

"You wouldn't do that brother…it's Christmas." Al sighed shaking his head. Ed shrugged and held onto the two items, Harry and the others had finished up and paid for their treats. They all gathered around the exit to decide where to go next, Harry suggested they go to Zonkos'.

"Sounds like a plan," Edward agreed, he had an even bigger smirk on his face now, "What kinds of things do they sell there?"

"You'll see." Harry and Ron said smirking themselves. Alphonse and Hermione just sighed and shook their heads; they didn't know what to do with those three.

They all headed out and made their way to Zonkos' Joke Shop, the weather had let up slightly but it still made Ed wish that he'd brought a jacket. When they arrived at Zonkos' and walked in, Ed immediately went over to a shelf that caught his eye. It had series of miscellaneous items on it. Alphonse had wondered off and was looking around at all the different gadgets and gizmos that lined the walls. It didn't take long for the two brothers to find Christmas presents for everyone on their list, though in some cases they weren't in the best of taste.

Edward set down on the counter a pair of white gloves that had stuck themselves to the warier and didn't come off, a contraption that when taken apart can't be put back together again, and some other things he figured would be fun to give. Alphonse did the same only his items were more meaningful then mischievous.

The gang ended their trip to Hogsmeade with a visit to the Shrieking Shack; Ed wasn't too impressed, Al just politely said it was interesting. Though when Harry told them about how one of their previous professors had been a werewolf and the Shrieking Shack was the place he was kept back in his school days. That made it slightly more interesting but finally the cold got to Ed and he couldn't care less if the Philosophers Stone itself was in that shack, he wanted to go back to the Three Broomsticks to get more of that hot apple cider then head back to Hogwarts.

They did just that and finally got back to Hogwarts. Walking into the Gryffindor commons room, Ed flopped down in his favorite spot by the fireplace and sighed,

"That was fun…" he took out his silver pocket watch and checked the time, it was six in the evening "Wow…time really flew by."

"How is it your watch isn't affected by the magic protecting the school?" Ron asked curiously.

"Why would it be affected?" Ed muttered putting it back in his pocket.

"All muggle technology is rendered useless when they come within a serten distance of the school." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Muggle? What's that?" Alphonse asked.

"A person who can't do magic." Harry answered.

"Oh, well…I'd have to say it was the alchemic amplifiers in the watch," Ed shrugged, "You said it yourself that alchemy was an advanced magic. I personally think that's crazy, alchemy is a science and follows the laws of nature."

"Why do you ask Ron?" Al asked.

"Just wondering that's all…" Ron shrugged.

"So, what did you boys think of Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked. Ed sat up slightly in his chair and looked around at the three wizards with a questioning look,

"Are we being interigated?" He asked.

"No, we just were wondering that's all."

"All right then, it was nice. I really liked the Three Broomsticks," Ed answered with a comfortable look about him as he remembered the hot apple cider, "Zonkos' was impressive too, I could really get back at Mustang using some of the things I saw in there. Next time I should bring some money."

"Brother?" Al turned and looked at his brother.

"What?"

"You said 'next time', does that mean that when we leave…we could come back if we wanted too?" Al asked excitedly.

"Hmmm…" Ed looked at the fire for a moment then smiled, "I guess…this place kinda grows on ya after a while."

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Man! I just finished FF VII (the movie) and holy wha! That Sephiroth is wicked! Both in a good way and a bad way. Wow! Man he kicks butt! Vincent just got even cooler in my book! He can fight too! Yeah! Cloud…yup! Still like him! He's just cool! That was a cool movie…love the action and the fighting! –Continues to talk about nothing else until finally someone has to get the sedatives- 

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave some reviews! Hmmm…I've been doing really long chapters lately…for this story anyway…I was actually going to go into Christmas in this chapter but figured it was getting kinda long. I mean I don't mind long chapters! I just want to keep things consistent, normally I write an average of four pages per chapter so yeah…GA! Now I'm typing out a long author note thing! I'll just stop talking now…


	11. Chapter 11

Vwala! A chapter for Harry Potter and the Quadwizard Tournament! Hahaha! Ehem…well, I'm a still tryin' to come up with somethin' for the Gates story, I mean I've GOT something for it. Just the getting there thing and all this spontaneous procrastinating and stuff. Please don't kill me because of my excuses, it's a horribly bad habit of mine (though not half as bad as my memory). Well anywhozles, here ya go!

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Christmas in Gryffindor Commons**

Edward woke with a start when something rather heavy landed right on top of his bed; sitting straight up he looked around quickly for the culprit that woke him. Alphonse was hastily getting off, he must have attempted to jump on the bed like he used to when they were kids, raising a tired eye brow Ed grumbled,

"What? What is it? What's going on?"

"It's Christmas silly, common you should see all the presents! Harry and the others are already down in the commons room, we've been waiting forever for you to wake up."

"Huh, oh right," Edward nodded, his composition changing from tired and slightly irritated to pleasantly amused, "gimmie a sec." He slipped out of bed and put a pair of slippers on, then followed Al out of the boys' dorms and down to the commons room. There Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting around the fireplace opening their presents. Harry looked up and said,

"Look who finally woke up! I thought you were dead or something."

"Geez, who sleeps through Christmas?" Ron retorted.

"Oh you boys, leave him alone." Hermione scolded. Ed just heaved a halfhearted sigh and shrugged.

"Guess I was more tired then I thought," he said, "Now…which ones are mine?" Ed was rubbing his hands together with a mockingly greedy look on his face. Everyone laughed; Al pointed to a small pile of neatly wrapped gifts on a nearby table. Edward walked over and picked up the very top gift and sat down,

"Hey Al, this one is for you, it's from Winry." Ed smirked tossing it at his younger brother, apparently both their gifts had been mixed together. Al caught it and tore into it.

"Oh good! I was starting to run low." Al cheered, Winry had sent him an industrial sized can of oil so he could polish his armor.

"Heh, I've never seen anyone so happy to get oil before." Ron muttered scratching the back of his head.

"That's because you've never seen anyone who needed it like Al does." Ed laughed, "If he doesn't polish himself up every once in a while he'd get rusty and then he wouldn't be able to move very well."

"Yeah," Al nodded setting the can down, "Hey, this one is for you brother." Al said. Ed picked up the next package on the pile and examined it; this one was from everyone at Central Command. He'd been hoping it was one from Winry considering it probably wouldn't be something of odd taste. Carefully unwrapping the unfeastive blue wrapping paper with the State Hexagram on the top, Ed tossed the paper to the side.

It was…a military uniform? Edward held it up and looked it over; it was definitely a military uniform. A small note fell out of the front pocket of the blue jacket and landed at his feet, Ed knelt down and picked it up, upon reading the note his bewildered look turned into that of irritated rage.

"What the!"

"What is it brother?" Al asked.

"That no good…skirt chasing…" Ed was turning red now, "I'll get him for this…" he growled. Alphonse took the note from his fuming brother and read it out loud.

"Dear FullMetal, Due to the fact that you have gotten away on many occasions for not having and wairing the State issued uniform, we took it upon ourselves to investigate this matter. After recent discovery, that you in fact went to the issuing office and requested a uniform but was unable to receive one, we took it upon ourselves to investigate further. We just recently discovered that the reason why you didn't get one was in fact because the military did not make custom uniforms for those who were not of proper…stature. Therefore! Because of my rank I ordered one made just for you. Sincerely, Colonel Roy Mustang. P.s. I do hope they didn't use too much fabric."

Alphonse looked up from the note at his brother, who was failing to keep a very angry grimace from his face and said,

"Oh…heh…"

Everyone else though was laughing, when Harry was finally able to calm down enough to speak he said,

"Wow, your friends sure have an odd sense of humor."

"Yeah, but you can't help but think that's funny." Ron agreed. Edward just swiped the note away from Al and roughly rolled it into the uniform tossing it to the side grumbling,

"I do hope he finds the sense of humor in HIS Christmas gift. Let's move on to the next gift shall we." He picked up another box, this one for Al from the E.C. as well. It ended up being a new loincloth with the State Hexagram in the center. Edward then opened one of his, this one from Winry this time. It was a small tool kit, there was a note with this as well, and it said something about due to the fact that she wasn't able to be there to fix his automail herself he'd have to do it. There were also instructions on how to go about repairing his automail.

"I have no idea what all this means…" Edward said looking over the instructions. The two brothers then moved onto opening the gifts from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Rons' mother had also sent them something; Edward got a sweater with a big gold 'E' in the center. Alphonse got one similar only it was his size with a large 'A' in the middle.

"Heh, I don't think my mum got the clue that you're a suit of armor and don't get cold." Ron laughed. Alphonse laughed too and said,

"Don't worry, I like it!" Harry and Hermione had gotten Al some books on magic, before, Al had mentioned being moderately interested in the history behind magic and how long it had actually been around. They all had gotten Edward books as well but with one or two of their own little things. Like Harry had added a book on Quidditch, Ron had tossed in wizards' chess set and Hermione added more books.

Finally Ed picked up the last gift, which was a rather large package and looked at the tag, he turned ghostly pale, then a rather pale green color.

"What is it brother? Who's this one for?" Alphonse asked.

"It's for the both of us…"

"Who's it from? I've only ever seen you make that face twice, and that's with Artimus and…Teacher." Al said.

"Heh…Al…are you read for this?" Ed asked.

"Yeah…" Al nodded hesitantly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, then at the two brothers. Hermione asked cautiously,

"Is there something the matter?"

"Yeah…this gift…" Ed said pointing to it, he was looking at it as if it was about to spring to life and attack him without warning, "It's from…our teacher."

"Your teacher? You mean one from your school?" Ron asked.

"Heh, you could say that…she was the one who taught us alchemy back when we were kids." Alphonse said.

"Kids! Wait, you were kids when you learned alchemy?" Hermione asked slightly surprised.

"Yeah, we should talk about that later though," Ed shivered, "We better get this over with." Reaching out and very carefully started to tare the paper away from the box.

"Oh come on, you two are acting silly." Hermione said, "It's not going to blow up or something."

The two brothers just stopped and looked at her, it was only apparent on Eds' face but they all could tell that the two brothers were mentally saying that it was very possible and that if they wanted to live they'd step back. Edward went back to unwrapping the gift slowly until all the paper was set aside. The two brothers took a deep breath and opened the box, the two looked inside slowly.

"What…in the…world?" Edward said sticking his hand in the box; he pulled out an even smaller box. He looked it over then opened it, inside was a nicely engraved invitation.

"What is that?" Al asked. Edward took it out and read the invitation. Harry and the others had all leaned in close to get a look at it.

"…" Ed bit his lower lip and looked up and around worriedly.

"Brother? What is it? What did she send us?" Al asked, he had a slightly frantic sound to his voice. Eds' only response was a funny sound that was a cross between an exasperated moan and crying.

"You don't look so good." Harry said.

"She's…she's coming here…" Ed said, he looked like he was about to be sick. Alphonse jumped up involuntarily nearly toppling over and landing on the three young wizards.

"You're not serious are you brother!" he gasped.

"What's so bad about your teacher coming here?" Ron asked.

"You've never met our teacher!" Edward snapped, it wasn't out of anger but more out of nerves.

"No, they haven't Edward…" came a sudden voice from the direction of the portrait. Edward bristled and Alphonse ducked behind the table, but due to his size he wasn't hidden very well. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and looked up, there stood a rather young looking woman with long black dreadlocks pulled back in a high pony tail. She was in a white dress with black pants and a black jacket; this lady had a very stern look about her.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked, "How'd you get in here?"

"I used the password," the lady said, "I was invited." She then looked down at Edward, who was now cowering behind his chair and said,

"When I got this very interesting letter from a man named Albus Dumbledore saying that my two idiot apprentices had taken part in this tournament, he very kindly invited me to watch…and help."

"T…t…teacher? What do you mean…help?" Ed stuttered.

"For some task, it's a dual."

"Wait, you never told us who you are." Harry said jumping in; Edward shot him a look of pure shock at his boldness.

"Oh right, I'm sorry." She smiled turning to the three wizards; "I'm Izumi Curtis, Ed and Als' teacher."

"Wow! You're so young!" Ron gasped.

"Why thank you!" Izumi smiled looking rather flattered; she then glared at Ed and Al, "Such good manners these friends of yours have."

"Yes! Very good!" both brothers said simultaneously.

"But as I was saying," Izumi said getting back to business, "I was invited to be apart of one of the tasks. It's a duel between wizards and alchemists."

"So you believe in all this magic stuff?" Edward asked.

"I find it interesting, why, don't you?" Izumi answered. Edward just held up his hands saying he agreed with her.

"You think it's the next task brother?" Alphonse asked.

"It could be…" Edward said thoughtfully.

"So, Edward, you're the one taking part?" Izumi said, "Alright, lets' see this tattoo I heard about."

Edward obediently held out his hand and showed Izumi the tattoo on his hand; she looked it over until a frown drew across her face.

"I've never seen this kind of mark before, not even as a part of a transmutation circle." She said, Izumi then looked at Ed and asked, "Where's this girl I heard about?"

"Artimus? Oh she left, she said she'd be back later on." Edward shrugged.

"That so?" Izumi sat down on a chair and looked around the room until her eyes fell on the mess of wrapping paper, "Edward…Alphonse…"

"Yes?" they both replied.

"Get this mess cleaned up…afterwards we're going outside and training." Izumi said, she had the 'do it now or feel my wrath' look in her eyes and they knew to obey or there would be trouble. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had never seen two people clean up a mess so fast, if given the chance the two Elrics probably would have kept going if their teacher hadn't stopped them.

"So…" Harry muttered after the three alchemists had disappeared out of the commons room, "one of the tasks is going to be a duel."

"Yeah…" Ron sighed.

"Izumi seems like a nice lady." Hermione said.

"Heh, she seems to scare the living stuffing out of Ed and Al though." Ron muttered dryly. Harry though was contemplating what the headmaster was thinking in inviting another alchemist to take part in the tournament. Was it possible that he would have to duel against an alchemist? That would prove interesting considering he knew little of the art to begin with.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Ack! I can't write anymore! (Tonight) Ack! Ack! Ack! I just had the surprise of my life! I'm still all 'OMG!' and '…' (I'm so speechless I can hardly think right). But anywhozles, I should have a few more chapters this week…for Hand in Hand and Millennium Awakening. I might have somethin' for Human Nature, still workin' on Gates (sorry guys! Just a wittle longer!). The Dawn of Haymaker is at a temporary stand still, the invisible elves don't want to work with that one, it could be a possible union or something (no offence to anyone, the elves tend to follow the world events more then I do so they know a lot about stuff). Review! –Hugs- 


	12. Chapter 12

Hmm, hmm, hmm, A request for a fight between Ed and Izumi (actually I think it was both Elric's vs. Izumi…), well anywhozles, here's a small wittle skirmish between Ed and Izumi. It all leads up to the second task, which by the way will be in this chapter! Neyahahahaha! What will Ed have to go through this time! Read and find out…heh, heh, heh.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Second Task**

'Haagh!' Edward was thrown with such force that when he hit the ground and skid to a halt, there was a sizeable skid mark in the ground. Alphonse was lying face down a few feet away, not moving from fear of being thrown again; Harry, Ron, and Hermione were watching from a safe distance and where secretly entertained by the two alchemists. Due to the fact Al was down and refusing to get up again he was considered out, so now it was just Ed and Izumi. Izumi stood between the two Elric's with an irritated look on her face, she set her hands on her hips saying,

"You two haven't been training have you?"

Ed slowly and sorely stood up; he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand then replied hesitantly,

"I subdued a dragon, doesn't that count as training teacher?"

Izumis' eyes flashed dangerously and Ed involuntarily flinched, with that brief moment of unawareness, Izumi ran forward and threw on of her deadly roundhouse kicks right at Eds' head. He saw it coming, almost, and just barely dodged it.

"I hardly call getting the crap beaten out of you by a lizard training, Edward." Izumi snapped, "Yes, I was informed about the happenings during the first task."

Edward had a slightly peeved look on his face, he hadn't expected that and it hurt his pride slightly. Having his teacher learn of how he was knocked around by a fifteen foot lizard was not a moral booster.

"Then I guess I should go and start training then…" he muttered under his breath, Ed had only said that to attempt to mentally heal his pride but what he hadn't realized was that Izumi was close enough to hear him say those words. Izumi clapped her hands and touched the ground; Ed took a hasty step backwards trying to avoid the alchemic energy surging through the ground at him.

Ed tripped and landed on his backside, almost instantly the ground beneath him caved slightly then rose quickly. The earth had started to warp as the alchemic energy was reconstructing it, Ed was soon suspended a good ten to fifteen feet in the air and was being held there by a stone pillar. To say the least he was not in the most comfortable position, his arms were being held apart so he couldn't clap his hands and he was stuck nearly upside down.

"Aaargh! Hey! Let me down!"

"Ed…"

"Hey! I said let me down! I didn't mean it!"

"Ed…"

"All the bloods rushing to my head…I'm getting dizzy!"

"EDWARD!"

"Hm?" Ed quickly stopped his ranting and looked down at his teacher, when he did this though he caught a nasty bout of vertigo and had a very unfocused and cross-eyed look on his face. Izumi sighed and shook her head in a mildly disappointed way then said,

"You have to get yourself out of there before the second task…which by the way starts in two days."

"You mean I'm stuck up here for two days?"

"No…if you manage to free yourself before then, well then, you won't be stuck up there for two days." Izumi smirked. Harry, Ron, and Hermione where laughing from the sidelines, they couldn't help it because Ed looked really funny. Izumi turned and started to walk back towards the castle, when she was gone Alphonse got up slowly and looked up at his brother who was struggling to get free. Sadly though, he was pretty much stuck and he was unable to use alchemy. Al really wasn't sure what to do to help his brother.

"Wow, she's really good isn't she?" Harry muttered.

"Scary too." Ron shivered. Hermione though had a very amused look on her face as she said,

"I can't believe she's one of their teachers, wonder what the others are like."

Alphonse looked at them and asked,

"Others? What others?"

"Your other teachers." Hermione replied simply, Al walked over to the large pillar and gazed up at his brother, who was attempting to free himself again and said,

"We don't have any other teachers, she's the one who taught us everything we know."

"So…how many teachers does your school have? If there's one teacher per two students then…"

Alphonse found himself trapped in a corner, as much as he didn't want to give away their real reason for being there, he still didn't want to lie to them. Edward though was more then willing to answer that question,

"Loads! Now if you guys don't mind…I'd like to get down from here."

"I don't think we can be of much assistance brother, teacher did say you had to get out of this yourself." Al said, Ed replied to that with more frailing and some rather inappropriate cursing. Alphonse sighed and shook his head, "Brother, there's no need for that. Teacher would never put you in a situation she knew you couldn't figure out."

"Yes she would!"

"Besides, this may help you prepare for the next task…whatever that may be." Al continued.

"How can trapping me in a rock prepare me for anything?" Ed snapped, the vertigo started acting up again and he just let himself hang there while the earth spinning nausea overtook him. It hadn't dawned on Ed how much he didn't like hanging upside down, fifteen feet in the air, at least, until that moment. It was then that one of the Hogwarts professors, Prof. McGonagall, came out of the castle and addressed them. She paused for a moment to gaze curiously at the stone pillar that hadn't been there that morning then asked that Hermione follow her.

"Hold on a moment…where's Miss. Derrick?"

"She left, said she had business to take care of, or something." Ron shrugged. The professor didn't look too happy about that but brushed it aside and turned to Alphonse,

"Well, in that case, could I also talk to you Mr. Elric?"

Alphonse looked up at his brother worriedly, then back to the professor and nodded, she led to two back to the castle leaving Harry and Ron to look after the, still, nauseous elder Elric. It was about an hour before the three were rejoined Harry and Ron, Alphonse paused and looked up at the pillar to see how his brother was doing, he took a step back and looked again, Al then gasped and said,

"Where's brother?"

"Huh?" All three wizards turned and looked up, at the very top of the pillar there was a big hole where Ed had been, but he wasn't there.

"He was just up there a minute ago!" Ron gasped.

"Yeah, we looked away for one minute and…" Harry had to readjust his glasses, "he just vanished."

Alphonse walked around the pillar a few times before stopping and looking up at it, no sign of his brother. It was really starting to worry him, what could have happened, he was trapped in the pillar and yet…there it was…

"Brother! Where are you?" Al started to shout, no answer, "Brother!"

They all started searching for the elder Elric in the immediate vicinity, but still no sign of him, they gave up after an hour of searching and went to dinner. The minute the four entered the great hall they all froze, there sitting at the Gryffindor table was Edward Elric, he was playing with a fork and had a very disgruntled look on his face. Alphonse ran up to him and demanded,

"Brother! What happened? How did you escape? When did you get here?"

Edward turned and blinked blankly at his younger brother, who continued to bombard him with questions till Ed had to hold up his hands in defense and say,

"Alphonse, slow down, geez…"

"How can I calm down! You just disappeared! And you were stick several feet in the air trapped inside a solid stone pillar!"

People started staring now at the scene, Edward stood up and twiddled the fork around in his fingers before answering,

"It's strange, either teacher knew or it was a lucky guess but…I know how it happened…or why…or what the hell it is exactly, but I think I'm ready for the next task."

"What is it?" Al asked; Harry, Ron, and Hermione had joined them by now and where listening intently.

"I don't know…you'll find out in two days…I'm not telling anybody till then, I still need to work some stuff out first." Edward set the fork down and started to leave,

"Hey, aren't you going to have dinner?" Hermione asked. Ed stopped and thought about it for a second before turning and smiling,

"No…I already had something, but thanks for asking." He turned and left the great hall, leaving his brother and the three young wizards dumbfounded. They had all gotten so used to seeing Ed as slightly moody and a short temper, Al though was the only one that actually knew his brother had a very nice side, but this was kind of creepy.

"What does he mean by 'already had something'? When did he eat anything? Dinner hasn't even been served yet." Ron questioned sitting down where Ed had been. Alphonse sighed and said he was going to go with his brother, he was still curious as to how exactly he was able to escape without anybody noticing, knowing his brother like he does. Ed was known to be over the top with some things and the way he had been ranting earlier it was quite shocking to find out he escaped without making a noise or even altering the landscape. Al also wanted to inform his brother about the next task, he'd been told by Dumbledore what it was and was sworn to only give the contestant clues, he was good at that so that's what he figured he'd do also.

Edward was found, once again, sitting in his usual spot in the Gryffindor common room, he was gazing into the fireplace with a very odd look on his face. When Al got closer he realized that his brother was fast asleep and snoring softly.

"Brother?"

"Hmn…" Ed rolled over in his easy chair but didn't wake up.

"Brother?"

"Zzz…"

"I need to talk to you about the second task."

Edward rolled over again only this time he sat up; he glanced over at his brother and yawned, when he was finished with that he gave Al a sleepy look of mild attention. Al knew he was paying attention even though he looked as if he was about to nod off again so he made it quick,

"Brother, I'm supposed to tell you that the next task will test your mind."

"Mhm…" Ed nodded.

"Also, you should be ready to face what threatens you most…or something like that."

"Hmmm…"

Al was slightly flustered by his brothers' easygoing attitude, it was almost like he didn't care, Al then crossed his arms and asked,

"Ed, ARE you ready for the next task? If you are, what do you plan on doing?"

"Al I told you, I haven't worked out the kinks yet but when I do, you and everyone else will see. Besides, I over heard the headmaster telling you guys what the next task is so I'm prepared."

"What?"

"It will all make sense in two days, now…I'm tired and want to go to sleep." Ed got up out of his chair, reluctantly, and started for the stares.

"You seem different brother." Al pointed, Ed stopped and turned,

"Yes…and no…don't worry Al, it's not a problem." He then turned and went to bed.

--

The day had come, the second task was an hour away and Edward was nowhere to be found, Izumi had disappeared as well. Al was once again starting to get worried; he was standing just outside the Quidditch field waiting for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When they showed up Hermione asked,

"No sign of your brother yet?"

"Nope…" Al answered with a definite sulk in his voice.

"Don't worry, he said he was ready right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but he wouldn't tell me what it was." Al sighed.

"Heh…yeah…" Harry had a slightly pale look on his face, Hermione had given him his clues and he really hadn't liked the sound of them, he was half hoping to get some ideas on how to go about the next task from Edward but he was missing.

"Harry, you should probably head inside and join up with the others'." Hermione said, Harry sighed and nodded, he turned and sulked off. Hermione shook her head as if what she saw was rather pitiful.

"Oh, he's making this more difficult then it really is."

"Alphonse! There you are!"

Al rounded to see who it was that had addressed him and gasped, it was Izumi, she had an oddly good natured smile on her face which he'd grown to recognize anywhere, it either ment she was genuinely happy at that moment or was in such a state of anger that all life as he knew it would cease.

"Teacher! Where have you been? Where's Ed?" he asked.

"Oh don't worry, he's with the others', I've just been meandering about this impressive castle." She replied, Al mentally took a sigh of relief that she was in a good mood.

"Ah…" he nodded, "So, he wouldn't happen to have told you what he had planed for this task did he?"

"Yes, he did, but I can't tell you that Al. He want's it to be a surprise."

"Surprise? That's not like brother." Al muttered.

"No, it's not, but it's not a problem," Izumi shrugged, "I believe he has just the right advantage for this particular task and he'll pass with flying colors."

Everyone was soon escorted into the stadium, as the second task was about to commence. The field had been, once again, altered to suit the needs of whichever task was going to be performed on it, this time though there was a small trunk sitting in the center of a grassy field. Everybody was staring at it questioningly, and whispers' asking what it was started to spread, it really was quite odd. When everyone was seated, Dumbledore stood up and started explaining what was about to happen, he said that within that trunk was a creature known as a boggart and that each participant would have to return it to the trunk within a set time using any means save for killing it. The audience stands where protected by a spell so the boggart wouldn't attack the audience, Dumbledore made that quite clear. He then went on to explaining the scoring and all the technical stuff until everyone got real bored and started chanting that they wanted the task to start.

Sure enough, moments later it did, the first to come out was the young lady, the trunk was opened and a very, very, VERY large snake came out of it. Alphonse, though technically impossible, shivered at the site, his armor rattling. The it took her about twenty minutes to get the boggart back in the trunk, considering she spent most of the time either screaming or running for dear life.

"So…this boggart is a giant snake?" Al asked leaning over to Hermione, she shook her head and replied,

"No, a boggart is a creature that can transform into a persons worst fear, it's a boggarts' form of defense. Nobody really knows what a boggart looks like."

"Oh…" Al sat back and pondered this for a moment, he wondered if that ment he'd be able to see what scared his brother most, that was something even he didn't know. Then next was the young man from the Bulgarian school, when the boggart emerged once again; it was an even larger creature, a rat to be more precise. Ron yawned and sat back in his seat muttering something about all these 'fears' where boring and he wanted something terrifying to see. Hermione scolded him for poking fun at other peoples fears, which he replied bluntly that their fears where boring and not scary at all.

"Maybe for you they're not scary Ron, but for them it quite obviously is."

It was soon Harrys' turn and both Hermione and Ron knew exactly what the boggart would turn into this time. They where both properly prepared for the encounter and hid under their seats, Al though had no idea why they where doing this so he asked, Ron answered,

"It's gonna turn into a dementor, wicked scary things that suck all the happiness and life out of everything, they can also suck out your soul."

"Hmmm…" Al started rattling again, he REALLY didn't like the sound of that considering he was JUST a soul. Izumi just sat and watched patiently unfazed by any of the goings on. It took Harry about fifteen minutes to return the boggart to the trunk, it had taken a good deal out of him to summon the patronous and keep it active till the very end there, but so far his time was the fastest and he was in first place. Harry left the field for the medical tent, sense he was feeling kind of tipsy, he passed by Edward and said,

"Hey, good luck."

"Heh…" Ed smirked, "Thanks…" he walked out onto the field. He came to a stop right in front of the trunk and glared at it, the trunk suddenly jerked as if something had slammed into the side, Ed took a small step back and waited for it to open.

The lid flew open a second later, but nothing came out, everybody in the stands watched and waited, but still nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, why isn't anything coming out?" Hermione added. Alphonse shrugged, he had no idea what was going on so he leaned over to his teacher and asked,

"What's happening teacher?"

"Just wait…you'll see." She replied. Alphonse watched the open trunk and his brother.

Edward took a step forward to look inside but before he was able to get close enough something jumped out and slammed right into him. Ed was thrown off his feet and forced to roll backwards till he was able to stop and jump up to see what attacked him, his eyes narrowed as they fell on his attacker.

"It can't be!" Al jumped up.

"What? Who is that!" Ron asked, he'd jumped too but from nearly having his toes crushed by the giant suit of armor.

"That's…that's." Al stammered.

"That's his father." Izumi finished.

"What?" both Hermione and Ron said.

"Hoenheim is his name…and he's Ed and Als' father." Izumi explained.

Edward glared at the boggart Hoenheim; he took a deep breath and smirked,

"Well…even I didn't see that one coming," he used his hand to flip his bangs out of his face and continued, "Boggart, you couldn't have chosen a more desirable target, I'm going to enjoy this greatly just so you know."

The boggart didn't say anything, it just charged straight at Ed and threw a left hook and followed up with two roundhouse kicks. Ed dodged all three of the attacks and quickly put a good amount of space between him and the creature, he looked up and smirked again saying,

"You've got some interesting tricks up your sleeve don't you? Well, lucky for me so do I." Ed shut his eyes and took another deep breath, the boggart Hoenheim charged at him again, Ed didn't move. Everyone watched as the creature closed the gap between itself and the young alchemist, Edwards' eyes flashed open and everyone gasped.

"B…brother?" Al nearly fell over the side rail into the field, Hermione and Ron where to shocked to say anything, they just sat there with their jaws hanging. Izumi sighed and laughed slightly saying,

"Edward couldn't have picked better."

There, where Edward had been standing, was a fairly large dark gold dog, it was almost like a gold lab but larger and its' fur was slightly longer. Its' ears where back and its' fangs baring, the boggart skidded to a halt and glared, the dog leaped forward and bit down on the boggarts leg and started dragging it back to the trunk. Boggart Hoenheim was flailing about when suddenly its' free foot landed a sharp kick to the dogs side, just below the rib cage, there was a loud whine and even louder growl as it let go of the boggarts' leg. The boggart stood about a foot away from the trunk and smirked, the dog looked up and smirked back, charging forward the dog slammed full force into the boggart knocking it back into the trunk and slamming the lid down.

Everyone was staring dumbfounded into the arena as the dog lied down on the ground watching everybody, secretly hiding the fact that one of his ribs had broken…again. Alphonse and company ran down onto the field afterwards, the dog merely looked at them innocently trying to look cute.

"Brother! What happened to you? I don't get it!" Al started, he seemed near hysterics. Hermione, who'd regained her ability to speak faster then the boys had, answered that question,

"It's quite obvious that your brother…is an animagus."

"A what?" Al asked, Izumi seemed interested as well.

"An animagus, a wizard that can turn into an animal. There are very few animagus in existence, one has to either be born one or well, there is a way for someone who isn't one to become one but it takes a very long time." Hermione explained.

"So that could only mean, for Ed to have been able to do this so fast…" Izumi looked down at the dog, "He was born one…"

The dog tilted its' head and made a whining noise before resting its head on the ground, everyone looked down at him. Izumi knelt down and placed her hand on his side and applied some pressure. The dog winced and whined, he gave her a pained, sheepish expression, she sighed and patted him on the head saying,

"One of his ribs are broken…" Izumi ruffled Eds' ears, "Idiot."

"So…what now?" Ron asked.

-To Be Continued-

* * *

Mwahahahaha! (Cough, cough, sputter…ehem…) Right, now I know I didn't spell that term right but it was late and I was tired…and being lazy. But yes…awh…he's so cute, and…and…FUZZY! (I WANT ONE!) Ok, I know the second task was kinda weak…but I've got some good ones for the last two! And don't forget! The ball! What possible chaos could I cause at such a shindig eh? Keh, keh, keh (oh hey! this is only chapter twelve! oops, thought it was thirteen)  



	13. Chapter 13

I checked out this really kewl book from the library called _Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You_ and because of this book I was able ta pick out some extra nasty critters. This chapter I'm shootin' for humor and the rise of the antagonist of the story. I know, I know, why is the antagonist popping up so late in the story? Simple really…cause I finally came up with one…and…cause I can (insert evil laughter). Ok real reason, cause I had this awesome brain storm thingy…yeah…

**Amandana:** Mmmm…sweet chaos…yes well, seeing everyones' reaction to her I figured I'd switch her around a wittle bit…which means…(evil laugh) can we hear an antagonist a comin'? Don't want to give away too much…but all I will say is…she's not who you think she is.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter Thirteen: I Have To What!**

Edward was sitting on the bank of the black lake gazing tiredly over the water, he was vaguely thinking about what Hermione said about being an animagus. How the only two ways a person could be one is if they were born with the ability or they've spent most of their life training to become one. Since he'd never spent a second of his life training to become an animagus let alone even know what one was, he highly doubted it was because of that. Then there was the aspect of being born one, which started forming questions that didn't make much since in the first place.

"Damn…I be it's because of HIM…" Ed grumbled under his breath, he was referring to his father Hoenheim, of course. The, now moderately fuming teen, was just about to doze off into a, metaphorically speaking, catnap when Professor McGonagall came trudging through the grass.

"Aw there you are Mr. Elric, your brother told me you would be here."

"The traitor…"

"Now, as a participant in the present tournament you are required to have an escort to…"

"An escort? For what?" Ed interrupted; he'd jumped to his feet and looked as if someone had just sentenced him to live out the rest of his life on a dairy farm. The Professor was not please for being interrupted so she replied tartly,

"IF you'll allow me to finish Mr. Elric, you are required to have an escort to the formal this coming weekend."

"Formal? Y…you're not talking about a…ball are you? Or dance, or party, or whatever it is you call it here."

"Of course I am, now, you and the other tournament participants are going to open the formal with the first dance. I should hope you found someone to accompany you." the Professor stated. Now Edward had an unreadable expression on his face,

"Did…Al know about this?"

"Yes…he told me he's already found somebody to…" Once again she found herself being interrupted by the now uncontrollably angry teen.

"ALPHONSE!"

--

Al's sitting in the Gryffindor commons room watching Harry and Ron play wizards' chess when he looks up and around, then he asked,

"Did you hear something?"

"Nope." Both young wizards answered in an unnaturally uninterested tone, so the younger Elric shrugged and went back to watching the game.

--

"Oh, he's going to pay…" Edward fumed, Professor McGonagall huffed and continued,

"You are a representative for your school, you need to be ready. Also, the Headmaster thought it would be fitting that a few of your own professors be invited to partake in spectating this event."

"You…you're joking…right?" Ed stammered, he was now wondering whether or not the world was ending right before his eyes.

"I assure you I am not."

Edward gaped then started walking back towards the castle, the look on his face would have been priceless had in tot been for the fact that he hadn't transformed into a dog right that moment.

'Damnit!' he mentally shouted he thought he had control over it, but apparently it still needed to be refined. The infuriated alchemist stalked back to the Gryffindor commons room, getting odd looks along the way, when he arrived he had to bark and owl several times before somebody let him in.

"Hello brother," Al chimed as Ed walked over to the fireplace, "Are you all right?"

'Woof!'

"Brother?"

'Bark!'

"Come on brother, you have to turn back so I can understand you."

'Grrrrrrr.' Edward growled and looked away. Al tilted his head questioningly.

"Brother?"

Edward managed to transform back, he was still sitting on the floor like a dog, but he had a very disgruntled look on his face.

"Al, you didn't tell me about the formal."

"Oh…heh…yeah." Al scratched the back of his helmet.

"So, who are you going with?" Ed muttered.

"Oh yeah! I'd sent a letter to Winry and she said she'd go, the Headmaster said it was all right." Al nodded. Ed stood up; he gave Al a look, one that was unreadable, and said,

"Did you know that some of our friends from the military will be joining us?"

"What? Really?"

"What, you didn't know?" Edward sounded irked; "I'm going for a walk."

"But you just got back."

"Yeah well, I've got a lot to prepare for don't I?" Ed got up and started walking towards the door. Al quickly followed him and stepped in front of him blocking his way,

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I was going to tell you but I didn't get the chance."

"Al, I have to prepare for this weekend, I haven't got much time to prepare." Ed walked past Al and left. Alphonse sighed and turned, Harry and Ron where looking at him, their game momentarily forgotten.

"Um…Al…you ok?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, brother's just needs some time alone." Al answered with a nod.

"You sure mate?" Ron added.

"Yeah, don't worry, he's just blowing off steam."

--

Edward had made his way back outside and was wondering around the school grounds, he walked all the way over to the Quidditch field and back then made his way over to Hagrids hut. It was there that he noticed something, he could hear something coming from the forest, it sounded like music. Finding it kind of odd that there would be music coming form a supposedly forbidden place, Eds' curiosity got the better of him, and not being one to follow rules he took a step into the forest.

He'd been walking for at least ten minutes before he stopped and crossed his arms, he could still hear the music but he couldn't find out where it was coming from, it was almost as if it was coming from nowhere in particular. Heaving a large sigh, he turned around to head back only to find himself face to face with a very strange looking figure. They stood a good a few feet away and seemed to be dancing around in circles; Ed took a small step back and, inconveniently, stepped on a twig. When it snapped, the figure turned and looked at him, turned out it was a girl. She had shoulder length red hair and was dressed in a sort of woodsy colored dress…in fact, her dress looked as if it was made of leaves and other plant life.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Edward Elric." He answered, Ed was getting a funny sort of vibe from her, why was she here if this place was off limits to people? Something else caught his attention, she had pointed ears. That must be it, she wasn't human…was she?

"Hello Edward Elric, my name is Shi."

"Uh…hi."

"What are you doing in the forest Edward Elric?" she then asked.

"I heard…music, but it's stopped now." Ed answered. She just laughed and took him by the hand saying,

"Don't be silly, I didn't hear anything."

"Y…you didn't?"

"No," she started leading him deeper into the forest, "Come with me, you must be tired and hungry."

"Actually no, but I really should be getting back now." Ed tried to go the other direction.

"You mean you came from the castle?" she asked.

"Yeah…kinda."

"Ok then, that's closer lets go there!" she turned and started heading in the same direction Ed was going in. She'd led him all the way back to the edge of the forest in less time then it took him to get lost in it, but in that short five minutes Ed had a 'ah-what-the-hell' look on his face.

"Um…I know you're not…human but…"

"Sure."

"What?"

"I could hear you talking with one of the other people from the castle, something about a party. I like parties, with dancing and singing. Besides, you're not really human either right?"

"Of course I'm human!"

"But…you turned into a dog, I saw you," she walked up to him and patted him on the head, "Such a cute doggy."

"Ah! Stop that!" Ed ducked and brushed her hand away.

"Ok then, I guess I'll see you then." Shi walked back into the woods and vanished leaving Ed questioning whether or not he just hallucinated that or he actually asked some random, not even human, girl to the formal thing. Yes, he did, which left him in a very funky mood as he walked back to the castle, he was hoping he could just go straight to bed and sleep all night and most of the next morning without incident.

When he walked through the portrait he found himself greeted by not just Alphonse but Harry, Ron, and Hermione as well. They all seemed a little TOO cheery and it made Ed suspicious.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh nothing, so are you feeling better?" Al asked.

"Kinda," Ed muttered, "I'm going to bed." He started walking towards the boys' dorms when Harry asked.

"So did you find someone to go to the formal with you?"

"Yes actually." Ed said pausing.

"Really! Who?" All three asked.

"Nobody you know."

"Come on brother who?"

"Just someone I met while walking."

"Tell us."

"Listen, I'm tired and I want to go to bed, why are you all pestering me now?" Ed hissed.

"Well…" they all looked at each other.

"Out with it."

"Oy…Ed, did you forget about me already?"

Edward looked up, he knew that voice and it made him reel, turning around he met the all to familiar gaze that irritated him so.

"Oh…hello Artimus," He said with a grimace, "I half thought you ran away."

"Awh, still a sweetie aren't we." She retorted, "Naw, my job was to get you here safe and sound wasn't it, well and stay here and help ya out as best I could."

"Phft…"

"I'll ignore that," she glared, "But I do have other business to attend to, like say, giving the grand tour to some of our old buddies from back home."

"What? They're here already!"

"Well yeah…Mustang and Hawkeye and Hughes and…" she paused to think a moment then nodded when she remembered, "And Armstrong."

Edward was already halfway up the stares, he was muttering something about if anyone so much as thinks or conceives the very idea of waking him up or bothering him he'd personally see to it that they paid for it dearly.

"Yeah nice ta see you too!" Artimus shouted up the stares laughing.

"Shut up!"

-To Be Continued-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK! The next chapter will be the formal! Keh, bet you're wonderin' who Shi is right? Am I right? Huh, huh? Well you'll have to find out in the next chapter (ducks as people chuck things at me) Hey! (Pwned by some random object) X.x

Well anyway…man now that FMA is done with (well anime wise…still got some more of the manga to go)…I'm gonna need a new series to obsess over and I've chosen one I think best suites my interests and such. That series is…SAIYUKI! I've already got a character I'm gonna lobve to death just like Ed n.n and that lucky character IS! Genjyo Sanzo! Yey!

Sanzo: Keep away from me (points gun at me)

Me: Awh, he just needs ta be shown the ropes (takes out ropes and has evil grin on face)

Sanzo: O.O Makai Tenjou!

Me: (Pwned by Maten Scriptures)


End file.
